Thinking of You
by StarnightX
Summary: SEQUAL to Believe Me 100 Percent. What will happen to Nayami now that she has finally left Orochimaru? Will she find her brother? If she does, will she ever see Sasuke again? Maybe some DeidaraxOC action? Eventual SasukexOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a sequal to Believe Me 100 Percent...I was suppose to post this last night, but I was too tired to after my track meet. This story is kind of a side project sort of thing, but I'll try to update often. Check my profile to see when new chapters may possibly come out and remember to REVIEW please!

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Chapter 1: Released

_The female figure of fifteen ran across the clearing and through the trees ahead. Finally, she can now finally find her brother, see his face, his smile. The thought of finally meeting her brother put a smile on her face, but even though she was very happy she has finally escaped from Orochimaru's clutches, after 15 long years, she didn't feel as happy as she thought she'd be. About 10 minutes of running later, she comes to a stop; she had reached another clearing. She notices that her breathing is heavy as she looks up to gaze at the night sky. Her hand slowly rises to touch her cheeks and realize that they were wet. When had she started crying?_

_She closes her bright blue orbs and breathes in the cool crisp air. Opening her eyes again, she smiles up at the starry sky. The sky reminded her of when she and Sasuke laid on that hill and fell asleep together under the stars. Clutching her chest, she nods to reassure herself. She must accomplish her goal; she must meet her brother. After all, there's no way Sasuke would chicken out, not this early at least._

_Feeling more confident, the fifteen year old girl starts off again, but is soon tackled to the ground unexpectedly. She struggles to defend off her attackers, but it was three against one and they're strength overpowered hers. Someone ropes her neck off begins to scream, hoping someone would hear, anyone. However her screams were useless, for someone had struck her hard in the head, but before she blacks out, she sees a familiar man with gray hair and glasses._

Nayami lies on the floor in the dark stone room. The only light present was that of the torch on the wall and the torch in the hall. Her clean pretty face was hidden beneath a mask of dirt and grime. Her clothes were and her chained hands were tied to a wall. Her mouth muffled by a piece of cloth. How long has it been? How long since her attempted escape from Orochimaru, only to end up in one of his dungeon cells. She felt weak, worthless for she had failed to achieve her goal.

The door begins to creak open and a glimmer of hope could be seen in Nayami's blue eyes. Maybe he has finally noticed, maybe Sasuke has finally found her. Her eyes focused on the door in anticipation only to be disappointed. The shadowy figure that had walked into the room wasn't Sasuke at all.

Kabuto walked in holding a tray with two small loaves of bread and a cup of water. He looks down at the girl who lies before him and swallowed a feeling of pity he felt for her. How long has it been since she's been her? Six months? Before being imprisoned here, she was once so happy. Her eyes a once bright cerulean now a ordinary dull shade of blue, her beautiful golden hair now tangled and dead-looking, and her skin was grimy from the months without washing. He bends down to untie the cloth covering her mouth and begins to feed her.

The two of them are silent. She eats slowly as though it hurts to chew and swallow. She finishes the bread and moves on to drink water, which seemed to magically heal the dryness in her throat. A bit of water dribbles down the side of her chin and Kabuto uses a finger to wipe it up. He sighs when he sees her eyes again. They were now very watery…they glistened from the light of the single torch in this dungeon.

"You know you shouldn't have run off. You know I can't do anything about this." Kabuto grabs the tray and walks back to the door.

"How long will I be here?" Nayami croaks out. Her voice sounded very strange to her, probably because she hasn't used it in a long while.

Kabuto stops in his tracks and turns to look at the now sixteen year old girl. "As long as Orochimaru-sama says so…" He leaves the room, leaving her alone again.

A few hours passed or what seemed to be a few hours…who was she kidding? She had no idea how much time has passed. She knew not if it was night or day, if it was springtime or fall. But after Kabuto left, she was able to sense someone's presence outside of her door. It couldn't be Orochimaru. She would've been able to tell if it was. No, it wasn't him, maybe it was Kabuto again? But he had already visited her today…or was it yesterday? Either way, Kabuto doesn't come often. Nayami began to release the little chakra she had left, so that the person on the other side would know she's there. She saw the door knob begin to move…BOOOOOOMMM! Nayami's heart skips a beat at the sound of what seemed to be an explosion. The presence outside of her door began to move quickly away and Nayami silently begged for the person to come back.

Twenty minutes later, Nayami heard footsteps moving down the hall rather quickly. Again she releases all the chakra she has left. The footsteps stop in front of her door and a small smile begins to show on her face. But she's now feeling weak and closes her eyes, stopping her bursts of chakra. In her mind she Sasuke, same old, boring Sasuke with that same expressionless face. She laughed, surprising herself. She laughed again and again, until she began to cry. Focusing on the chakra she had left, she started to release a steady flow, praying to God that the person outside of her door would open it.

Her vision started to become fuzzy and it was starting to get hard to breath. It seems to be taking an eternity for the person on the other side to open the damned door. Finally, after what seems to be forever, she hears the sound of the door knob turn, opening the door. Who was it? Who was her rescuer? Nayami didn't know, for she had blacked out. The only thing she saw was figure dressed in orange and black.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Jesus, I haven't been able to work on any of my stories because I'm so busy with school and Track...not only have I not been able to work on my stories, but I haven't even been able to watch as much anime as I used to. Sorry for the short chappie and please review!

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Chapter 2: The Hospital

The young blonde girl opened her eyes. Her nose was overwhelmed with the strong scent of disinfectant. Her hand twitches as she tries to move. Her body feels as though the slightest movement would break it in half. After struggling to sit up, she leans against the bed post. She looks down at herself and realizes that her clothes were changed, replaced with a blue hospital dress. She glances up to see two ninjas standing by the door; the symbol of Konohagakure etched into their headbands. She slumps back into her previous position and allows her eyes to close, sighing. _"I'm finally in Konoha," _she thinks to herself, a little relieved. _"But I didn't want it do end up in a hospital…"_

She hears the door open, as one of the ninjas leave the room, no doubt to report to a higher up that she had finally awakened. What would happen when the Hokage comes? No doubt they'll believe that she had run away from a village or something. They wouldn't punish her would they? Of course not, they decided to save her after all and put her in a bloody hospital. But since they saved her, they must be looking for something in return. Information perhaps?

The girl hears the door open once again, but this time it sounded like 4 or 5 people have walked into the room. She remained unmoving, feigning sleep. "You two may leave. We'll be able to keep her under control from here," said a woman.

"It looks like she's still asleep," this coming from another feminine voice, but this person sounded younger.

The blond girl nearly jumps when she hears a boy shout. "Then we'll just have to wake her up!"

"N-Naruto!"

The girl wakes up as she's being shaken violently. Her eyes meet the brilliant blue eyes of the boy who shouted; his eyes looked much like her own. "Where's Sasuke?" He asks. "Where is he?"

"Sa-suke?"

"Yeah! Where…" He never finished his sentence since the girl with the pink hair hit him upside the head. The blond female glanced around the room to see the other people there. Besides from the pink haired girl and the blond boy, there was a man with gray hair, which defied gravity, who wore a mask. There was also a big-breasted woman with her hair in pigtails.

The pink haired girl speaks. "My name is Haruno Sakura."

"I'm Nayami," Nayami responds.

" Are you feeling well?"

The girl does nothing but nod. The older woman with the big breasts spoke now, "Do you know who I am? Nayami shook her head. "I'm Tsunade and the current hokage and you will answer questions about your time spent with Orochimaru. If not then you'll be put under arr…"

Nayami cut in, with her usual happy voice. "You'll probably lock me up, whether I like it or not! Why bother threatening me anyways?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the young girl, who sat before her. "Do you know where you were before you woke up and found yourself in this hospital?"

"Do **you** know the muffin man?"

"The…muffin man?"

"The muffing man," Nayami nodded.

"Answer the question."

Nayami pouted, "No fun", but responded without hesitation. "Daddy's dungeon."

Tsunade's expression now showed a bit of confusion. "Daddy's…"

"Dungeon, yeah!"

"You girl! You…are Orochimaru's daughter?"

Nayami blinks before responding. "Of course not. He just been watchin' over me since I was a baby."

"Do you know where you're from?"

Nayami folds her arms and closes her eyes, appearing to be in deep thought. "Hmmm…" Nayami drawled out, "Kabu-chan told me that I'm from Konoha."

"K-Konoha?" Nayami noticed that the eyes of the other three people in the room widened slightly.

Nayami nods. "Yep, that's why Daddy put me in the dungeon for a long time. I was trying to come here and find my brother."

Tsunade looked a bit speechless and Kakashi decided to ask a question. "How long have you known?"

"How does your hair defy gravity?"

"How about you answer my question?" Kakashi asked, getting a bit annoyed for some reason. Maybe it was because of her childish tone of voice.

Nayami shrugs. "I dunno. Maybe since I was 5…?"

"How old are you now?" He asked.

"You aren't suppose to ask a woman how old she is ya old man!"

"You don't look older than 15, hardly a woman," Kakashi responded coolly. "And I'm only 30 years old," he added.

"I'm 16 for your information! At least I should be by now…"

"If you knew you had a brother since you were 5, then why wait so long to leave Orochimaru, especially since you knew you had family somewhere?" Sakura asked.

"Dude, I was five."Nayami answered bluntly and Sakura looked away, looking a bit embarrassed in asking such a question. "Besides, Daddy promised me that one day he'll let me go, but he decided to break that promise…"

Naruto, who had been watching the scene unfold silently in the background, couldn't hold it back a nymore. "Uchiha Sasuke! Have at least seen Uchiha Sasuke when you lived with Orochimaru?"

Nayami turned to him, "Of course I've seen Sasu-chan!"

"S-Sasu-chan?" Naruto repeated. He couldn't believe that this girl had given Sasuke such a nickname.

"Yeah, Sasu-chan! We play together, eat together…we even sleep together sometimes!"

Sakura's eye twitched. "R-really know?"

Nayami nods happily, "He's fun to be with…even though he can be a stick in the mud."

"Then you should know where he is then!" Naruto said excitedly.

Nayami falls silent, trying to think of where Sasuke could possibly be. "He's probably somewhere he can…accomplish his dream."

"His dream?"

"Yeah…but I guess you could say it's more of a goal. Sasuke says he'll do anything to get it done!"

"Anything?" Naruto repeated.

"Yeah, that's why I wanted to come here so I could achieve my dream too, even if that means I had to leave Orochimaru and put myself in danger."

"And what's your dream?" Naruto asked.

Nayami gave Naruto a dazzling smile. "To find my brother."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yo! Sorry for not updating for so long and sorry if this chapter is kinda boring. Anyways, PLEASE review and tell meh what ya think!

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Chapter 3: Date?

The sun beat down on Naruto's neck as he walks to the hospital in deep thought. He was on his way to visit the blond girl in the hospital; the girl they found in one of Orochimaru's prison cells. Her words seemed to replay over and over in his head. "…he'll do anything to get it done…" That's what she said about Sasuke wasn't it?

Naruto sighed. There were so many things he wanted to ask her about Sasuke: Did Sasuke ever tell you why he left Konoha? Doesn't he know we all care about him? Were you close to Sasuke? Did you know what he was thinking? All of his questions, however, went unsaid due to the fact that Tsunade kicked them out of the room, because it was time for the girl's check up.

Naruto's thoughts drifted to the strange girl, as he walks through the hospital entrance. Her name was…Nayami wasn't it? She was a rather good-looking girl. Her blond hair looked fairly long and her eyes, strangely enough, were the same shade of blue as his. She seemed to act a bit childish and when she spoke her voice sounded very…cheerful, which Naruto found strange after everything she's been through. It was weird though. There was something about this girl that seemed so…familiar.

Naruto now opens the door to the girl's room, after acknowledging the guard outside with a nod. He sees the girl lying on her stomach, on top of the bed. In front of her was a coloring book and beside her was a box of crayons. On the table beside the bed, there was a dirty plate. Next to the bed, the window was open, but the outside of the windows had bars on it, probably placed on there to keep her from escaping.

The girl looks up and grins widely. "Yo, Onii-san!"

Naruto looked at her questioningly. He wasn't that much older than her was he? "How old are you?" he asks after a moment of silence.

"15?" She responded, unsure of why he wanted to know.

"I see…" he said awkwardly. She seems a little prettier than he remembered. "How long are you in the hospital for?"

"I dunno. I think I'm healthy enough to leave now, but they don't know what to do with me."

"What do you mean like that?"

"Well…I guess they dunno if it'd be safe to let me go or not…you know since Orochimaru's kinda my daddy," she elaborated, coloring a sun a bright yellow.

"Right…" Naruto still thought it was weird how she considers herself Orochimaru's daughter when she knows she's from Konoha and that it isn't true. "H-How close to Sasuke were you?" He finally asked. For some reason he held his breathe, after asking the question.

"How close? Hmmm…" She stalled for a moment. "I guess you could say we were lovers!"

"L-lovers?" Naruto choked out, his eyes magically turned into large circles of disbelief.

"Yeah…we were gunna get married and move into BIG mansion and have a bajillion servants…" She began to ramble on about her "future" with Sasuke and Naruto believed that Nayami was probably pretending to be Sasuke's lover. "I really miss Sasuke," she says out of the blue; the tone of her voice changing into one of sadness. "He was fun to be with."

Naruto now looked at Nayami with an empathetic look. "If you want, then maybe…you know if you wanted to…you could come with me and get ramen sometime!?" He sort of blurts and immediately regrets it. Why in the world did he ask her out? She'll probably say no…or worse. What if she hits him like Sakura does? She obviously likes Sasuke more! What the hell could he do now? He can't take those words back? Mah! What was he thinking?

Nayami had stopped coloring for a moment and then continued. "Sure! Just come back later, then we could eat lunch together!"

Naruto blinked at her in disbelief. "Eh?"

"Yeah! I just had breakfast…but we can definitely go each lunch together…that is if they let me out of here!" She said, smiling wildly.

Naruto found himself smiling too for some reason. "Yeah, I guess I'll see you later then." He left the hospital in a good mood, but it wasn't until he wasn't until he was far from the hospital when he realzed that he had forgotten to ask Nayami about Sasuke.

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"I don't like it. She could be a spy…" Tsunade comments, sitting at her desk, reading over Nayami's health file. She was perfectly healthy and showed no physical abnormalities.

"It doesn't seem like it tough, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said, remembering the blond girl's…unique personality. "She doesn't seem to take things very seriously, does she?"

Tsuande folds her hand and rest her chin on top of them, in deep thought.

The room was quiet until Kakashi spoke. "That brother she was talking about…well, I can't think of anyone in this village that could be her brother, besides Naruto. It is a possibility."

"That's true," said Tsunade. "However, just because they look alike doesn't necessarily mean they're related.

"Yes well, they're both blond, have blue eyes, energetic, ninjas, they both like Sasuke…they have many things in common."

"That doesn't prove anything. And besides this discussion is besides the point. We're trying to decide what to do with this girl. She could prove to be useful with information on Orochimaru…"

"Well maybe, since she doesn't seem much of a threat, you can let team 7 watch over her for now," Shizune suggested and both Kakashi and Tsunade looked at her. "Well, since she has a connection with Uchiha Sasuke, wouldn't she useful in the search for him?"

Tsunade closes her eyes in deep thought. "She can be useful, but if she proves to be dangerous it could be a problem…we should test her strength first and decide from there.

"Would you like to test her today?" Shizune asked.

"Yes, Kakashi you will be administering the test."

"What?" Kakashi asked, looking up from his favorite book.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the very long wait for the update and rather short chapter. This chapter isn't very funny and is pretty boring...it'll hopefully get funnier in the next few chapters.

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Chapter 4: Betrayal

Nayami lies on her stomach; the coloring book is now closed. She buried her face into the bed covers and was slowly kicking her legs up and down. Finally after a few minutes, a loud grown could be heard as she lifts up her head. "I'm so bored…."

She rolls until she falls off the bed and lands on all fours. Slowly she stands to her feet and notices that she's still wearing the light blue hospital gown, but shrugs it off. She looked around the room, as though that would aid her in thinking of something fun that would free her from her boredom.

She looks out the window and notices bars have been placed, eliminating an escape route. This only means that the door was the only possible way out of the room.

She sort of saunters to the door and opens it to see only one guard standing on the other side. The man was a bit taller than her and wore a sort of bandana covering his head with the forehead protector sewn in. He also wore black glasses

"Hey girl, get back into your room. You're not supposed to be out here."

Nayami grinned as she thought of a way to sneak pass the guard. She puts on the most innocent face she can pull and pouts her lower lip a little. "I'm sorry, but my stomach hurts." Slowly she lifts up her dress, to reveal her pale stomach. Without hesitation the man pushes her back into the room and slams the door in her face, not before she could see the slight nose bleed she has given him. "Darn, I thought that'd work…Hey! If you let me out I'll take my shirt all the way off!" She was met by silence. "C'mon!" She slumps down onto the ground. She really thought that was going to work.

Nayami's gaze moves up and her blue eyes grew with realization. With a smile and new found energy she pushes the bed under the air ventilation vent. Dashing across the room, she picks up the spare chair and also places it on the bed. She steps back and admires her work; now all she needed was something to break off the grate.

A flicker of light caught her attention and she thanked the gods that nobody had come by to pick up her dirty dishes, left from her breakfast. She grabbed the fork and stood up on the chair. Sliding the fork under the edge of the grate, she slowly applied force until….snap.

"ITAI!" Nayami shouted as the fork broke along with the grate, causing her to lose her balance and fall off the chair, which was on top of the bed.

"Shit…." She groaned and looked at the door, checking to see if the guard noticed anything and to her great surprise, and luck, he didn't.

Deciding not to push her luck, she scrambled back on top of the bed and stood up on the chair again. Just as she was about to pull herself up into the vent, the door opened. The guard looked at her and she looked at the guard.

"…crap." Nayami hurriedly climbed into the vent and at the same time the guard grabbed for her legs. Luckily, Nayami swung her legs in such a way that she successfully was able to kick him in the face. Once in the vent she began to inch away as quickly as she could, like how a worm tries to inch away from a bird. Yeah, she crawled like a worm from a bird. She didn't slow down until she realized that the man hadn't climbed into the vent after her.

[*]

Tsunade closed her eyes and tried to refrain from yelling at Ebisu, the man assigned to guard Nayami. "I'm…going to wait outside…" Kakashi ssaid, sensing the hokage's anger.

"How, How could you let this happen?" Ebisu opened and closed his mouth as though he was a fish out of water. He was lost for words, and even if he had anything to say the Hokage wouldn't want to hear it anyways. "Shizune."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"Get the blueprints to the building and have people stand at all the vents. That's the only way she'll be able to get out of the ventilation system."

Meanwhile, Kakashi sat outside reading his book, happy that he was away from Tsunade, reading his lovely book. Oh how is it that no one understands why this book is so magnificent? 'Oh book…no one will ever understand us…' Kakashi soon snaps out of his thoughts when he hears a loud banging noise.

"Open up you stupid grate!" He heard a feminine voice shout. A few more bangs and the grate flies off. A blond hair girl sticks her head out of what must have been an air vent. "Free at last, free at last!" She then attempts to climb out, only to get stuck. "Eh?" Again she attempts to pull the rest of her body out. "Oh come on!"

Kakashi simply looks up and observes the struggling girl. "One…two…three!" She successful pulled herself out and fell to the grass below. "O-oww…" She sits up and spots Kakashi sitting there. They both stare at each other for a minute and Kakashi recognizes her as the girl who's currently missing. He gets up and before he can say anything the girl yells at him. "Oi! Oji-san!" Kakashi freezes up and his eye twitches. He doesn't look that old does he? "Oji-san! You heard me trying to get out didn't ya? Why didn't you help me!"

"Uh…" Kakashi was a bit startled at the amount of energy this girl had.

"Wait a minute!" She points an accusing finger in his face. "You're one of…**them.**"

"And who is '**them'**?" He asked her, imitating her overly dramatic tone.

"One of the leaf ninjas who follow around the hokage…you're one of her cronies!" She's about to take off, but Kakashi calls out. "Wait! If you come with me…I'll give you ramen!"

"Ramen?" She asks slowly.

"Yeah…as much as you want."

"Alright!" Kakashi when she ran up to him and glomped him. "I want a BIG bowl okay?"

He awkwardly pats her on the head. "Yeah…"He looks past her when he sees a chunin running their way. "Hatake-san, have you seen…" He stops and stares at Nayami. She looks back cautiously at him.

He springs for the attack. "Gotcha!"

"RAAAAAAAPPPPPEEEEEEEEE!"

"Shut it kid! You're gonna have a word with the Hokage."

"Help me! Oji-san!" She cries out, as the chunin swings her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "You!" she points at Kakashi. "How could you do this to me! Was I not your dear friend! A loving sister! " Kakashi simply ignored her, reading his lovely book.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello, after a long long time of being away. This chapter is one of those iffy chapters, I don't really like it but hey, this is what I got.**

**I've come very close, many many times, to giving up on this story and removing it from this site, but I decided not to. This story will probably be taking a turn for the more serious and won't be as light-hearted as Believe Me 100 Percent. I'm still posting updates on my profile so check it out if ya want.**

**Thanks to everyone who has favorited/read/reviewed Believe Me 100 Percent! Reviews would be nice. ;)**

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**Chapter 5: Eureka!**

Nayami stood in the middle of a grassy field. If the female hokage, who did not look very happy, wasn't standing in front of her, then she would have proceeded to twirling around like a little girl singing a random song. However because of the...rather grumpy, look upon the hokage's face, she decided against the urge.

The hokage's assistant stood beside the hokage and also didn't look very happy. Off to the side stood the man with gray hair, reading that same orange book…this reminds her of the one time Orochimaru scolded her when she found a book called Icha Icha Paradise and read the explicit contents during dinner. Daddy wasn't too mad, until she asked if Daddy and Kabuto ever did what the people in the book did. Daddy wasn't so happy then; he demanded that she told him where she got the book. Nayami panicked and blamed Sasuke, who was eating beside her, but for some reason, neither Orochimaru nor Kabuto believed her.

"You realize that your attempt to escape only raises our suspicions about you, right?" Tsunade inquired sternly.

Nayami ignores her. "Hey Old Man! You said you were gonna treat me to ramen!" It was then Nayami's turn to be ignored. "Don't ignore me!"

Tsunade raises her voice a little frustrated that this girl wasn't paying attention to anything she was saying. "Girl, you better listen to me!"

"Oh, did you say something?"

Tsunade rubs the sides of her temples. "Just try to get the bell from Kakashi, we're testing your strength."

"Does that mean I get to stay in the village!"

Tsunade ignores her question. "Just grab the bell."

Kakashi holds up the small silver bell and shook it a bit, so Nayami could hear its chimes. Her eyes grew wide, as though mesmerized by the sounds coming from the bell. All of a sudden she attempts to pounce on Kakashi, but he easily moves out of the way. "If you want the bell, then you're going to have to be more serious than that." Nayami ignores his advice and tries to grab the bells again, with a smile on her face. Kakashi simply raises the bells out of her reach, giving her a questioning look. She wasn't even attacking him; her eyes were very focused on the bells, so he decided to attack her with a round house kick to the side, which she surprisingly blocked with her forearm and looked up at him with a frown.

"I thought we were playing…" She pouts.

"We are….but you're playing the game wrong…"

"I am?"

"Yeah…er…your goal is to get the bell, but in order to get it, you have to attack me to take it away from me. Understand?"

"Oh…so…do I get any weapons? Or maybe a handicap? I mean this is a little unfair, don't ya think?"

Kakashi rubs the bottom of his chin, thinking of what she just said. "True….but I guess you'll just have to deal with it then," he told her, obviously smiling beneath his mask.

"Maaaaaahhhhhhh!" Nayami groans out of despair and begins attacking the masked jounin. She threw everything she got at him, punches, kicks, aerial attacks, but he blocked them all easily. Kakashi notices this and decides to comment on her tactics. "Taijutsu isn't going to be enough to defeat me."

"I'm not good at genjutsu…"

"Ninjutsu?"

"Uh…I can make shadow clones…that's…pretty much it," Nayami answers Kakashi with a gigantic grin on her face.

Kakashi sweat drops. "That's it?"

"Yeah…can't I just forfeit and you give me the bell?" Kakashi holds the bell farther away. "Gimme, gimme!"

Kakashi tries a new tactic to get the strange girl to fight; there was no way Orochimaru would keep this girl for so long if she didn't have a special ability of some sort. "It's hard to believe that you're Orochimaru's daughter. You can't even use ninjutsu…" His words, however didn't affect the girl, so he decided to take it a little farther. "No wonder he locked you away."

This caught Nayami's attention. "What do you mean? He locked me away because I ran away."

"That's a little harsh don't you think? If you were any use to him, don't you think that he would have let you out eventually?"

"I'm not useless! Daddy may not have loved me, but he still took care of me! I'm sure he cared for me! He was just angry is all!" Nayami responded a little angry.

What Nayami was saying didn't make sense to Kakashi. Surely she didn't really think Orochimaru ever loved her, or cared for her. "Listen to what you're saying. Orochimaru isn't the kind of man who'd care about anyone else other than himself. After spending your whole life with him, wouldn't you realize this?" He asked her reasonably.

"You don't understand…" She murmured, looking at the ground. Nayami could feel the fangs growing in her mouth and her delicate hands transform into vicious claws. Kakashi watched her slow transformation, a little shocked but not really surprised. After all, Orochimaru was known for his experimentations on the human body. "…I know he may not have cared for me, that he may not have loved me. I know he used me as an experiment too, but he gave me food, a place to stay, clothes on my back…he didn't throw me away carelessly like others…" Nayami didn't understand the feeling she felt right now. Was it loyalty? Was it guilt? Anger? Nayami certainly felt angry, but she didn't know why. She knew that Orochimaru didn't truly care for her, but despite that fact….

"…it's because of him that I am who I am today, and I'm not ashamed of being. I've learned a lot in my years with him and I will not betray him by telling you anything about him." And with that she lunged at Kakashi, with eyes of a killer.

**[*]**

"Sixty-nine bottles of sake on the wall, sixty-nine bottles of sake! Take one down, pass it around, sixty-eight bottles of sake on the wall. Sixty-eight bottles of sake on the wall, sixty-eight bottles of sake! Take one down, pass it around, sixty-seven bottles of sake on the wall. Sixty…."

"Shut up. Will you shut up?" The guard asked, Nayami's singing finally irritating him.

"But I'm bored and there's nothing to do in this cell." The guard doesn't say anything and the joy Nayami had bugging the hell out of him faded away from her system.

She knew she shouldn't have lost her temper with the old man. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been in a jail cell…again. Her emotions were confusing her; it was frustrating. She no longer had a sense of what she wanted. She wants to find her family, her brother, and yet a part of her wished to go back to the simple days with Orochimaru. What was she doing here? What does she really want? She tried to search inside herself to find the answer, but could find none.

"Nayami!" A voice called out her name. Nayami was brought back from her thoughts and looked up to see Naruto on the other side of the iron bars.

"Naruto! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was on my way to get you at the hospital…you know for lunch and all, but…"

Nayami laughs. "Well, I think it's pretty obvious we'll probably have to reschedule."

"Yeah…" Was all Naruto could say and the two of them fell into an awkward silence.

Nayami took this time to examine him. His blond hair and blue eyes…and then it finally came to her. "Naruto…" She whispered.

"Hm?" He asked leaning closer to the bars to hear her better.

"EUREKA! Naruto…I've had….an EPIHENY!"

"Eh?"

"Our personalites…our hair…our eyes…it all comes down to one possible conclusion! Naruto…you must be my brother!"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter is...meh. I'm surprised I'm still going on with this story. Reviews would be nice.

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Chapter 6: Disappointment

Naruto didn't know how to feel. Of course he was happy with the idea that he actually had a living family member, but it didn't seem…right. "Nayami…I think you're…jumping into conclusions to fast?" He asked, which sounded odd since it was coming from him.

"I **can't **be wrong Naru-chan! I'm so **sure **of it; I can **feel **it."

"Na-Naru-chan?" Naruto repeated, a bit flustered by his new nickname. Nayami snaked her hand through the bars and held onto Naruto's, smiling all the while. "Naruto."

"Oi, hands off the prisoner." The guard ordered, reminding the two teenagers of his presence.

Nayami frowned at him. "It's not like I'm break out of here by holding his hand!"

"I don't care. I just don't want you to try anything funny."

"What's so funny about holding someone's hand!"

"How am I supposed to know?" The guard asked Nayami glaring.

"You're the one that said it!"

"You're not making any sense!"

"Yes I am! How am I suppose to break outta here by holding someone's hand? You're the one that makes no sense!" Naruto made an attempt to remove his hand from Nayami's, but she glared at him. "Don't you dare let go of my hand! You did nothing wrong by grabbing my hand!"

Naruto sweat dropped. "I didn't even grab your hand; you grabbed mine." Naruto mumbled, loud enough for Nayami and the guard to hear, but both were too busy bickering to pay any attention to him.

"Besides," The guard continued. "Saying that you can 'feel' it is pretty crappy reasoning for your claim."

"What are you talking about?"

"Saying Naruto is your brother simply because you 'feel' it isn't really good enough a reason."

"And you care why?"

"I'm just saying…maybe you can take a test."

"If I wanted to take tests I'd be in an academy."

"A DNA test," The guard specified, resisting the urge to knock the girl upside the head. "A DNA test will show the probability of you two being brother and sister."

Nayami frowned. "But there's no point because I know he's my brother already."

The guard scoffed. "It just sounds to me that you're just afraid to try it."

"No way!" Nayami shouted. "Naruto and I will take this test of love!"

"Oi, don't go deciding things for yourself. And since when did this become a test of love?" Naruto butted into the conversation, only to be ignored again.

"Now guard, release me from this prison so I can go forth and accomplish my quest, believe me, 100%!" Nayami demanded, a little over dramatically.

"Hey! Don't go ordering me around!"

"I can do whatever I want because my name is Nayami!"

"I don't care what your name is! All I know is that I need to keep you in the prison cell! Naruto, why don't you take this matter to the hokage? I really don't want to sit here arguing with little miss princess here!"

All Naruto could do was nod, glad that he didn't have to stay and listen to them argue any longer.

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Mayu sighed as she began to wipe the inside of the blond girl's cheeks with a cotton swab. Really, Takashiro has takes things way too far. What kind of guard gets in an argument with his prisoner on whether they have a brother or not? "Now, just as I told Naruto-san before, the test only shows the probability on whether or not you and Naruto-san are siblings. So even if the probability is high, there's still a chance you two aren't brother and sister."

"Wllarer isth Naluto?" Nayami asked the cotton swab still in her mouth.

Mayu took the swab from her mouth and transferred it to a small plastic bag. "Naruto is out training right now." Mayu answered, somehow deciphering Nayami's speech.

"Oh, where's that guard from before?"

"Takashiro? I suggested to the Hokage that he take a short break; the two seemed to be arguing a little too often."

Nayami raised an eyebrow. "So who's my guard now?"

"I think Hokage-sama's sending a temporary replacement."

"This sucks ne Akamaru?" Nayami heard a bark and her eyes grew wide. "Please don't tell me…"

A large white dog rushed down the stairs followed by a boy with spiky brown hair and two upside down triangles on his face. "This is the girl we gotta watch over? She certainly doesn't look like much does she Akamaru?" The dog barked again and Nayami looked desperately at Mayu. "Don't leave me with these animals."

"We're right here you know."

"You'll be getting the results of your test the day after tomorrow. By then Takashiro should be back on guard duty," Was all Mayu said, ignoring Nayami's plea for help and leaving her cell.

"I have to deal with them for two day!" Nayami shouted, trying to reach out to Mayu though the iron bars restricted her. Waterfalls fell down her cheeks, but she was snapped back to reality due to Akamaru's barking. She leapt back from the bars as though it was the plague. "Stay away from me demon dog!"

"Don't talk to Akamaru like that!" The boy shouted.

"I hate dogs. Dogs hate me. Just keep it as far away as possible. On second thought, both of you keep away. You both reek of canine."

The boy's eye twitched. "Well you don't smell any better."

"Well, maybe because I've been stuck in this cell!"

The two teenagers glared at each other in silence. "So what's your name?" Nayami finally asked.

"Inuzuka Kiba."

"Nayami."

"That's it?"

"Yep…you know you're missing something?"

"What?" Kiba asked, wondering what he could possibly be missing.

"Yeah, a big red nose. Then I think you'd be the perfect clown."

Kiba glared. "Don't test me." He practically growled and turned away from her. Nayami sat curled up in the corner of the cell, staying as far away from the dog and the dog boy as possible.

Nayami didn't sleep a wink that night. She knew she was acting foolish, but who knows? What if Kiba and his dog decided to murder as she was asleep. Dogs were the worse, they were vicious and cruel and could tear your limbs off if they were big enough and Kiba's dog was definitely big enough. She slowly got up from her cramped corner and journeyed across her cell closer to the bars. She courageously made it and gazed down at Kiba's sleeping form, leaning against the wall. He was fast asleep, but the dog…

"BARK! BARK!" Kiba's eyes shot open just as Nayami sprinted away from the bars back to her corner of the cell. Kiba stared at her and she stared back.

"You're pretty pathetic."

"I wasn't trying to escape you know. I'm not that stupid."

"No, your fear of dogs."

"My fear of dogs is not pathetic!"

"Che," Kiba got up. "Come over here."

"No."

"Will you just get up?" Nayami pouted, but obliged. Akamaru started growling again and she froze in her spot. "Down Akamaru." Kiba ordered. Akamaru looked hesitant, but laid his head down on top of his paws. Kiba patted his head. "See. There's nothing wrong with dogs." Nayami slowly scooted her way to the bars and looked at Akamaru. The dog seemed to be glaring at her. "Go ahead and pet him." Nayami looked at him as if he was crazy. Just then the two of them heard footsteps coming down the stairs. They both looked to see Mayu and Takashiro.

Forgetting about the big ferocious dog, Nayami jumped up. "Are the results done already! That was fast."

"Yes, surprising they are," Mayu said as well not knowing how to tell the excited teenage girl the results of the test.

"Well…?" Nayami said, waiting for Mayu to tell her information she was dying to hear.

"The DNA index between you and Naruto is 0.5."

"Well, what does that mean!" Nayami asked frustrated.

"You see if the index is over 1.00 then there's a probability of a biological relationship of some sort between the two people, the larger the index, the higher possibility that the two people are related. The DNA index between you and Naruto is lower than 1.00 so that means…you two aren't related."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! School has started up again and I need to start on college apps. I'm still very surprised I'm still continuing this story. I plan on having Deidara to make an appearance soon (not in this chapter mind you). Check out my profile for information about upcoming stories and updates and please REVIEW! Reviews make me feel better.

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Chapter 7: Freedom

"_Tag! You're it Sasuke-kun!" _

"_Awww, Sasuke you're no fun." _

"_Yeah, since I'm the daughter, you must be the son."_

"_I always wanted to be in a family and this is the closest thing I got." _

"_So are you 'seme' or 'uke', Sas-uke?"_

"_C'mon Sasu-chan! Don't ya ever smile?"_

"_Time to turn your frown upside down!"_

"_Sasu-chan! Don't ignore me!" _

"_Ahh…you're right Sasuke! We're on a date, right?"_

"_You love me. Right? Right?"_

"_I'm glad you're so angry Sasuke. I was afraid that you didn't have any emotions at all!"_

"_I bet if you gave her a kiss on the cheek, she would let us eat our meals for free…"_

"_You'll die, you know that right?" _

"_One day I'll free myself and find my brother…"_

"_Is that a blush I see on your face?"_

"_Sasuke, did you just laugh?" _

"_Awww, a stuttering Sasuke is almost as cute as a blushing one!"_

"_What would you do if I disappeared?"_

"_Daddy, doesn't care about me. I'm not stupid, nor naïve…"_

"_You may have lost many people Sasuke, but please know you've gained at least one friend, 'kay?"_

Nayami sat up from where she laid, a single tear rolling down her right cheek. Her memories of Sasuke faded and her mind felt like it was wiped blank; what was she going to now? Naruto wasn't her brother. She had asked Takashiro to help her find her brother, or anyone who could possibly be a member of her family, but it seems that there are no other people in the whole village who had a blond haired girl, who was kidnapped 16 years ago. The brother Nayami was looking for was no longer here in Konoha. It made her think that maybe her brother never existed in the first place. Perhaps this was just one of the many things Orochimaru used to control her… She buries her face in her hands. It has been two weeks since she found out that Naruto wasn't her brother and yet she was still in this rotten prison cell doing absolutely nothing. "Sasuke…what would you do?"

"He can't hear you, you know." Said Takashiro, her prison guard, who reminded her of his presence.

"Yes he can."

"It's not good to lie to yourself."

"I'm pretty positive he can." Nayami repeated more firmly and looked up at Takashiro. "What are you doing here anyway? Do you really watch me 24/7?"

"Of course not, they send someone else to relieve me at night."

"Don't you get bored of watching me all day?"

"More or less. It's an easy job, so I don't complain. Though you talking about that Sasuke-kid all the time is very annoying."

Nayami's facial features furrowed. "I do not."

"Wow, it's worse than I thought. You don't even realize it. Sometimes you just start murmuring to yourself, but you always say his name clearly. I honestly don't know what you see in that traitor anyways…"

"To you he's a traitor, but to me he was…a new friend."

"A friend?"

"Yes…and so was everyone else I knew."

"Those criminals?" He asked, a hint of disapproval in his voice.

"I've grown up with criminals my whole life. They've become my friends and…I guess you could say my 'family' as well. We ate together, trained together, and sometimes had fun together. When I was young and afraid of the dark, Daddy always tried to comfort. But now that I'm older, I wonder if he ever really cared." Nayami laughed sadly. "I don't think he did, but I don't know if that matters or not. He kept me feed, gave me a roof over my head; he was there for me and so was everyone else I knew…a lot of them are dead now." Nayami's eyes began to tear up. "I want to go back, before…before…the rest of them…"

Takashiro knew he shouldn't have been thinking this way at the time, but as he watched the blond girl crying he realized that was she was, ninja or not, just a teenage girl…a very lost teenage girl. And so he made a decision, a decision he'll probably regret later. He leaned against the bars and motioned her to do the same. He said in a rushed whisper. "At one o'clock today, there is going to be a meeting for all the guards on duty today, including myself, for about thirty minutes. Most of them will be replaced, but your cell won't be, since you've been sulking for the past two weeks. They believe you've lost your drive, but I think they're underestimating you."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked, her voice carried a hint of fear that this could all be a trap.

Takashiro looked at her; he really looked at her, before replying. "You're a good kid and karma's probably going to come back and repay me for risking my ass to save yours, just don't do anything that will make me regret it later." He turned back around so his face was facing her.

Nayami was speechless; an opportunity like this wasn't one she should pass up. Of course it could all be a trap, and then where she'll be? But then again, if she didn't take this chance, who knows how long she would be stuck here for? But where would she go? She had nowhere to go after she escaped this prison. Nayami knew for a fact that Orochimaru wouldn't welcome her back with open arms…maybe if she found Sasori, he could help her out.

"Ta-Takashiro!" She sobbed, her arms snaking through the bars and wrapping around his waist.

"Okay…too close for comfort there." He made his way to move, but she tightened her grip. Takashiro didn't know what it was, but he felt paralyzed.

"I'm very sorry about this," She whispered in his ear, and just as he made his move she made her's and Takashiro was knocked out in an instant, thanks to a certain pressure point in the shoulder. Nayami looked down at Takashiro regrettably, but decided it was for the best. After all, how could she escape without any weapons? But first she need to get out of the cell and for that she needed to transform. She focused her chakra to the center of her body, before releasing it all at once. Sure enough it worked, very much to her surprise, the cat ears and tail began to grow, along with the vicious fangs and claws. She stuck one leg through the bar and began to move sideways out of her cell, before kneeling beside Takashiro. Nayami took some kunai and a few smoke bombs as well before putting her hands together and saying. "Henge!" As the smoke subsided, there stood another Takashiro.

Nayami, who was now under the guise of Takashiro, wasted no time and walked as quickly and as calmly as she could up the stairs. Deciding to go right, she walked down the hall, praying nobody would stop her thinking that she was Takashiro. "Hiro! Hiro!" Nayami nearly pissed her pants when she felt someone grab her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder to see some random kunochi standing behind her. "Why didn't you stop when you heard me calling your name, Hiro-kun?"

"Uhh…I didn't hear you…I'm not feeling well?" Nayami said, her statement sounding more like a question.

"Really? Do you want to see a healer or something?" the kunochi asked innocently.

Nayami shook her head fervently. "No, I don't think that's necessary. I think I just need to take a breather outside."

"I see…I'll go with you!" She said happily and took Nayami's arm in hers. Meanwhile, Nayami was freaking out in her head. What was she suppose to do with this woman? "So Hiro-kun, why aren't you guarding that spy?"

"Spy?"

"Yeah, that little blond girl…"

"Oh…well…the meeting's going to start soon so I thought I'd…"

"The meeting isn't until one. It's only 9 o'clock." The woman pointed out Nayami's contradiction.

"I…I knew that…" Nayami practically choked out. "I meant I wasn't feeling well and asked to leave. They have someone else guarding the girl."

"I see…" The kunochi said, sounding skeptical of Nayami's answer. "Are you sure you don't need to see a healer…?"

"NO!" Nayami shouted, but quickly recovered herself. "I mean, if you're with me, I think I'll be okay."

The woman blushed. "Hiro-kun…" She held onto Nayami's arm tighter and mentally Nayami sighed. _"This woman must either really like Takashiro or she's really stupid. Let's hope for the second one. It'll make things a lot easier." _

After listening to the kunochi talk about random nonsense Nayami really didn't care about for Lord knows how long, the two of them finally reached doors leading to the outside of the building. However, just as Nayami was taking her last steps to freedom, a shout called out from behind them. "Miyuki! Takashiro's unconscious in front of one of the prison cells. Stop that imposter!" But before Miyuki, the woman holding onto Nayami's arm, could blink an eye, Nayami pushed her away and set off a few smoke bombs. When the smoke cleared, Nayami was gone.

Racing for her life and for her freedom, Nayami sprinted through the streets of Konoha, barely avoiding people as she went. She had released the transformation jutsu, due to her slight state of panic, and was now back in her own form. She believed that she was doing rather well, given her current situation. Nobody seemed to pay much attention to her yet and the Konoha shinobi aren't on her tail yet either. Of course her luck didn't last long when she ran right into somebody. She looked down beneath her to see a rather old lady. "I'm so sorry!" Nayami scrambled to her feet and help the old lady up. She was about to take off again, when the old lady spoke. "Hana!"

Nayami looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm not Hana." Again she tried to take off, but the old lady grabbed her wrist. Nayami could have easily shaken the old lady off, but who would do such a thing to an old lady?

"No…but you look so much like her. You could pass as her daughter." That one word caught Nayami's attention.

"Did this Hana have a daughter?"

"Why yes, in fact she did. She had a son as well, but after her daughter disappeared…"

"Where is she? Is she here in the village?"

"No, she moved to a town in Tsuchi no Kuni…Nagashiro I believe it's called. It's close by Iwagakure…"

"Thanks a lot lady!" Nayami bowed and went on her way again this time with more confidence. Now she had a place to run to.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Yes! I finally updated another chapter! Sorry for a rather long wait. But you know, with school and all it's kinda difficult to find time to write. Please review!

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Chapter 8: Mourning

There was no denying it. Nayami was rather pleased with herself for successfully "escaping" Konoha. She was on her own for about four days; she hopped through the trees. After four long days, she had finally made it to the edge of Fire Country, without any Konoha shinobi catching her, although there were many of close calls. Luckily that morning, she was also able to hitch a ride with a merchant who was traveling to a small city in Earth Country, which was in the same general direction as Iwagakure. None the less the teenager was bored out of her mind lying in the back of the cart with various merchandise, while the kind merchant steered his horse in silence. The merchant wasn't young, nor was he old; he seemed to be around his late 30's, maybe even his early 40's. Nayami couldn't really tell. His hair was actually a dark rich brown, but his beard had hints of gray.

Her mind began to wander. What was Naruto doing right now? Was he upset that she left? Nayami shook her head. She didn't even know the guy very well. She did feel a bit guilty, but she was sure he'd understand. Besides, she was a little bit worried about what Konoha must think of her now. A spy? A missing nin? A criminal? She groaned and rolled to her side, deciding it was time to shut off her brain for a little while. There were too many thoughts running through her head and none of them were making her feel any better. Just as Nayami was about to doze off, the merchant spoke, "So is there any particular place you're headed?"

"Nagashiro in Tsuchi no Kuni (Earth Country)," She muttered, but loud enough for the merchant to hear.

"Any business you got there?" The merchant asked, obviously trying to strike up a conversation.

"I'm…looking for someone."

"I see. Friend of yours?"

"More or less," was Nayami reply. She knew better than to reveal too much information to a complete stranger.

"Not much of a talker, are you?"

Nayami laughed a genuine laugh. "I just have a lot on my mind that's all."

It was now the man's turn to laugh. "And what problems could a young lady like yourself have?" Nayami simply shrugs, now feeling a bit stupid in the presence of the older, and probably wiser, man. The man barked a laugh again. "No need to become bashful," he said, somehow sensing Nayami's embarrassment. "Sometimes telling your problems to the ears of a stranger can help you organize your thoughts. How about it?"

Nayami said nothing and continued to watch the clouds floating along in the sky, careless and free. The merchant accepted Nayami's silence and decided to drop the subject. After a moment of temporary silence, Nayami decided to ask the merchant a question he asked her. "Where you going mister?"

"To Tanorima; it's maybe three days away from Nagashiro. I told you so when you asked for a ride, remember?" Nayami was glad that the man had to keep his eyes on the road, because she now had a fervent red blush across her cheeks. How could she have forgotten that? Now she felt even more foolish than she did before. The man, once again somehow able to sense Nayami's embarrassment, chuckled. She saw this chuckle as an okay to continue.

"What are you gonna do once you finish your business in that small city?"

"Why…I'll go back home to wife and children of course."

"Your home?"

"Yes…I believe every human needs a home to return to."

"Ahhh…"

"And where is it you'll return to once you find this person of yours in Nagashiro?"

"I don't know. I don't think I have a…home to return to anymore," Nayami found herself confessing.

"Well, what about a person? You got anyone? Perhaps a boyfriend?" The man asked teasingly.

Nayami couldn't help but grin. "I guess you could call him that…I just don't know where he is."

The man gazed at the sky, watching a solitary bird flying above them heading in the same direction he and Nayami were going. "Separated lover's, huh? Well I'll be…"

"We're not really…lovers…" Nayami muttered. To be honest, she didn't really understand her…"relationship" with Sasuke, but he definitely was someone of great importance to her.

"Lovers, boyfriend/girlfriend, hell even friends with benefits, call it whatever you like," was all the man said, grinning at Nayami's denial. "I'm sure you'll meet him again someday."

"I'm not so sure," Nayami confessed truthfully. "He's…a ninja so…"

"Well, having a pessimistic outlook in life doesn't really get you anywhere. Take it from someone who knows."

"But still…" Nayami finally sat up, her gaze focused on her hands.

"The moment you begin to care for someone, you become one…in a way. Their happiness becomes your happiness; their pain becomes your pain; their future becomes your future. If you two truly care for each other, then you'll definitely meet again."

Nayami turned to look at the brown haired man, pushing her blond bangs back behind her ears. Her eyes held a quizzical look. "But how do you know?"

The man glanced over his shoulder, an eyebrow ever so slightly raised, and had a bit of amusement hidden in his eyes. "It worked out for my wife and me." He turned back around to face the road and began singing softly to himself. _"A red string tying hearts together, never to be separated. A future that lasts forever, preserved by eternal love. Separation is an illusion. Don't doubt the feelings of your heart. I've always been by your side, and it wasn't until now that you finally see, the heart I've given to you…"_

As he sang his song to pass the time along, Nayami slowly returned to lying down in the back of the cart this time her eyes open, examining the sky above. The rising sun revealed the world's natural pallet and she could feel hints of hints of the sun's rays kissing her skin. Pretty soon she was humming along to the man's tune, a smile on her face. It truly was amazing how helpful a random conversation with a stranger could be.

When they finally arrived at Tanorima, the sun had begun to set. Nayami hopped off the cart and stretched a bit. "I'll see you later kid," the man began his farewell. "Keep your chin up." After flashing her half a wave, he began to lead his horse through the city's wide streets. Nayami waved back, wondering where he was going to keep the horse, but soon realized that she never learned the man's name.

As soon as the man was out of sight, Nayami began looking around for a place to stay for the night.

* * *

"Sorry little lady, you should just move along now."

"Come on mister, I bet ya fair and square and you said if I won you'd give me a place to stay. I only need to stay for a night, then I'll be on my merry way."

"I still think you cheated," The man said firmly with his arms crossed. "Besides, little lady, a young thing like you shouldn't be spending the night with a 23 year old man who owns a bar. You'll get yourself raped that way."

"Yes, but if you wanted to rape me you would have allowed me to stay with you in the first place. So you must be a good person."

"Well, who knows if that wouldn't change after I get you behind my doors?" The barman asked darkly.

"I'm a big girl. I think I can take care of myself," Nayami replied with a grin. The young man was not amused. "Girl you better get out of my bar."

Nayami got on her knees and bowed her head. "Please give me a place to stay!"

"Get off the floor you crazy kid."

"PLEASE GIVE ME A PLACE TO STAY!" Nayami shouted, now drawing attention of other customers at the bar.

"You better shut your mouth before I…"

"PLEASE GIVE ME A PLACE TO STAY!" Nayami repeated determinedly.

The man finally came from behind the bar and yanked Nayami up from the floor. He began dragging her towards the exit while she began kicking and screaming. "Oi, Kizumi-san. Where the hell do you keep your…?" A new, yet familiar, voice caught Nayami's and the barman's attention. They both looked to see a blond man behind the bar, his left eye covered by some of his hair. Both Nayami and this man caught each other's gazes. In the back of both their minds, they knew they had met each other before, but where? In the new found silence, the other customers had gone back to their business. Slowly, but surely, Nayami's and the blond man's blue eyes began to grow in realization. "It's you!" Both exclaimed, pointing at one another.

"Oi Deidara, you know this girl?" Kizumi asked, a little hint of surprise in his voice.

"More or less, un," Deidara answered, his eyes not leaving the girl's until he addressed Kizumi. "Anyways, where the hell are your towels? I've been looking for the past ten minutes."

"Oh, uh…I don't think I brought them back in from drying. They're still hanging out on the clothes line."

"Che, honestly…" Deidara turned to leave, but Nayami cried out to him. "Hey mister, please tell this guy to let me stay here. I beat him fair and square in a card game."

"How stupid are you kid? I wasn't really going to let you stay here," Kizumi glared down at her.

"Please!" Nayami continued, ignoring Kizumi. "C'mon I'm friends with Sasori. You gotta help me out."

Deidara sighed and gave Nayami a look, a look with a hint of pain you could only see if you looked hard enough. "Let her stay for the night Kizumi."

Kizumi looked angry for a moment, but then grinned. "What is she? Your girlfriend or something?" he teased, finally releasing Nayami's wrist from his grasp.

"No..." Deidara answered him, glaring. "Well are you going to come to the back or not, un!" He then snapped at Nayami. She jumped in her spot, a bit surprised, and hurriedly got behind the bar to follow Deidara into the back.

Kizumi apparently lived behind and above the bar. Directly behind his bar was a small sitting room and stairs leading to two bedrooms and a shower. Deidara sat down on one of the cushions in front of the table and motioned her to sit. She obeyed his order and sat down. Nayami suddenly felt nervous around this person she barely knew, but Sasori didn't kill him so this Deidara person shouldn't be too bad…but that reminded her. Deidara was Sasori's partner and therefore a member of the Akatsuki. What was he even doing here? Before she could ask her question, Deidara spoke first. "What's your name again, un?"

"I'm Nayami!" She answered, with a cheerfulness that seemed rather forced.

"You're not as…energetic as I last saw you, un." Deidara noted.

"Yeah, well…a lot has happened since then," was all Nayami could say. "What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you with the…you know?"

"I'm on a temporary break. There's something I gotta do."

"I see."Nayami said, knowing better than to push for details. "Well, how's Sasori doing? Is he partnered up with someone else now? He's probably glad that you'll be gone for a while!" Nayami laughed, but it died down when she saw the serious look on his face.

"He's dead, un."

Nayami stared at Deidara shocked. Her heart seemed to stop and she felt like the air around her was suddenly, overwhelmingly pressing down on her. "Sasori… Sasori now too? He…but…" Tears rolled down her cheek, one by one, and soon they grew into thin silent rivers. "Sasori, he can't…tell me your kidding. Tell me you're lying," Nayami choked out. Deidara said nothing to her and gave no effort to comfort her. He simply stood up and went out the back to retrieve the towels he was searching for before.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: A new found fire has grown within me to see this story to the end! Problem is, there is a bunch of other stuff in my life I should be doing instead. ^^; Sorry for my many grammatical errors. I obviously don't have a BETA and I don't have time to go back and edit properly. ^^; Anywaay, I hope that you guys enjoy the new chapter and please remember to review.****

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**Chapter 9: A New Comrade**

Oi, wake up, un," Deidara nudged the sleeping girl's head with his foot. Nayami rolled away from him. "I said wake up!" He repeated, this time giving her head a good hard kick, causing her to curl up in a tight ball in response. Her blue eyes shot open furious. "What are you doing!"

"Waking you up. You sleep like the dead, un."

She sat up in a rather grumpy mood and rubbing the back of her head. "You kick too hard."

"You sleep too long. It's ten o'clock already and Kizumi wants you."

"What in the world does he want me for?" Nayami asked in wonder.

Deidara shrugged and left the room, leaving Nayami alone on her futon. She glanced around the room. It was rather plain and nothing was in it, besides a closet and a drawer. She spotted another futon rolled up and under a window. Standing up, Nayami walked over to the window and drew back the curtains. Blinded by the sunlight, she automatically closed her eyes shut and slowly opened them again, allowing them more time to adjust to the light. It seemed like it was going to be a nice day today in Earth Country, not a cloud in the sky. To see such a beautiful day like this, Nayami felt somewhat more…positive, happy, but of course that doesn't change the fact that Sasori was…She couldn't think it, nor could she say it. She didn't want to believe it, like Sakon and Ukon, Kidomaru, Jirobo, Kimimaro, even Tayuya, her past comrades, her past friends, who was next? She didn't even get to say goodbye.

She sank to her knees, an unseen weight suddenly pressing down on her shoulders. She knew they would have all die sooner or later, but Sasori's case just seemed so different. To her, he seemed near invincible; he was someone she looked up too. He was a bloody puppet for crying out loud. How could he have…?

Nayami took a deep breath in and out before getting up off the tatami flooring. She couldn't let this drag her down; she was ninja, or as close to one as she could ever be. No, she had to do her best to keep moving forward. She pulled the curtains closed again, returning the practically empty room to darkness.

"You took a while getting down kid," Kizumi commented when Nayami came down the stairs and sat down at the table with the other two men. He wore a simple white wife beater and black sweat bottoms and his dark brown hair was in a disheveled mess. Deidara sat across from Kizumi and looked more ready for the day than he did. He was dressed in simple black ninja attire and had half of his long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail. "I thought you cried yourself to death," said Kizumi.

"The redness of your eyes suggests you did." Deidara pointed out.

As she sat down, Nayami sent him a glare, which soon faded when she saw what he and Kizumi were eating. "Is that…is that chocolate cake?" She asked, her eyes full of want, leaning in closer to Kizumi.

He gave her a suspicious look and began to pull his plate of cake closer to him. "Yes…"

"Can I…?"

"No." Kizumi flatly refused and Nayami pouted. She casted her gaze to something behind Deidara, suddenly she pointed behind him. "Deidara! What's that!"

"Huh?" Deidara glanced carelessly over his shoulder. "There's nothing there you…Oi! Where the hell is my piece of cake, un!" When his attention was back to the table, his plate was clean, spare for a few chocolate crumbs. Kizumi's eyes had transformed into round discs of shock, his mouth slightly open and his fork slipping from his fingers. He was staring at Nayami, who was downing Deidara's piece of chocolate cake with a glass of milk. "Ah…that was good!"

Deidara reached over the table in attempt to grab her, but she quickly backed away in time. "You little bitch, un!"

"That's not very nice Dei-chan! Thanks for letting me stay Kizumi, but I think it's time for me to go!" Nayami proclaimed, new found energy rising up from within her. However, before she could even walk a step, Kizumi had grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back. "No you don't kid. You stayed the night and now I'm expecting you to clean up the bar."

"The entire bar! How am I supposed to do that all by myself?"

Deidara snickered. "Have fun figuring that out. Well Kizumi, since I don't have any breakfast to eat anymore, I guess I'll be on my way." Deidara walked past the two, but was also pulled back by Kizumi. "I don't think so, Dei-chan," Kizumi said, his voice rather dark. "I just let you, an S-rank criminal, stay at my place for the night. I'm expecting you to clean up the place too."

"What!"

"Stop being such a whiny brat. All you guys have to do is wipe of the tables and mop the floors. Damn…"

And so that was how Deidara and Nayami found themselves cleaning Kizumi's bar. "This is ridiculous, un," Deidara complained, wiping off a table.

"Then why don't ya just leave, Mr. S-rank criminal?" Nayami asked, leaning against the mop she held.

"He asked me to do it so I figured I'd just do it."

"Wow, I didn't know that a member of the Akatsuki would be so kind," Nayami commented; only to have a rag hit her in the face.

"Shut up about that. He doesn't know, un," Deidara told her, nodding his head to the back towards Kizumi.

"Who is that guy anyway?" She asked, seemingly ignoring Deidara's last statement. "Hee hee, your forbidden lover maybe?" She laughed, ceasing at once when she caught a look at Deidara's glare of death.

"No, just an old friend of mine, un."

"So what are you doing here with him?"

"I'm only passing through. I have business in Nagashiro."

"Nagashiro? Me too!" Nayami exclaimed and Deidara groaned.

"Absolutely not, un."

"Absolutely not what?" She asked innocently, her head tilting to one side.

"You were thinking, 'Maybe we can travel together!' weren't you?"

"Noooo…" Nayami cast her line of sight to anywhere else besides Deidara. She continued to mop the floor. "So…what are you doing in Nagashiro?"

"None of your business, un."

"If you tell me, I'll tell you what I'm going to do when I get there…."

"Believe it or not, I don't care what you need to do there."

"I'm going to be looking for a possible relative there and maybe if I find them, I'll be able to find my brother!" Nayami continued excitingly, despite Deidara's lack of interest.

He groaned. "You're almost as bad as Tobi."

"Who's Tobi? Is he a new member? Man, I wanna meet him!"

Deidara sighed and closed his eyes, trying to block out the girl's nonsense chatter and searching for a happy place so he wouldn't strangle her to death. "What's wrong with you, un?"

"Eh?

"I thought you'd be more depressed." Deidara said bluntly and Nayami knew what he was referring to.

"Mah…I'm more shocked than anything," was all she said, focusing her gaze on the ground. "I always thought Sasori would live forever, like his art. He was killed in battle right?" She peeked up at Deidara for his answer. He nodded. "Who killed him?"

"An old lady from Sunagakure and a pink hair kunochi from Konoha." In her mind Nayami flashed back to when she was brought before the Hokage in Konoha. That girl with the pink hair…her name was Haruno Sakura, wasn't it? She seemed nice enough when Nayami had met her…but that was before Nayami found out that this girl was one of the people who killed Sasori.

Deidara noticed the growing hatred in Nayami. "Calm down, un. What's done is done. It's not like you can do anything about it."

"But she killed him, destroyed him. His body was art and his art…it's supposed to last forever." She could feel her teeth changing into fangs and her hands transforming slowly into claws. "She had no right."

"Hey hey hey!" Deidara exclaimed noticing Nayami transforming and tossing his rag aside. "What the hell is wrong with you? Pull it together; you're a shinobi. Stuff like this happens all the time, un," He said, being rather inconsiderate of her feelings.

Nayami's cat-like eyes drilled holes into Deidara's skull. "Why would you care?" She snarled. "You didn't even try to save him did you?"

"What the hell would you know! I wasn't even there!"

"So you abandoned him?" Nayami asked, jumping to conclusions.

"No, we split. I took the ichibi's host's body away from the hideout and…"

"What the hell for! You should have gotten out of there when you were finished getting the ichibi!"

"Will you just let me finish…?"

Nayami ignored his request. "You never even liked his art. You didn't even consider it real art. Did you even have any respect for him?"

"Don't talk about things you don't know about, un! I didn't not like his art; I just didn't see it as true art," Deidara clarified, now getting upset. "I respected the man as an artist and I think that is enough. Besides, you can't bring back the dead so just forget about it."

Nayami's momentary rage soon faded at Deidara's words; she seemed to realize that her actions were out of line. Her fangs turned back into her normal human teeth and the claws become normal human hands again. Her blue eyes now showed more sadness than anything else. Deidara dropped his guard. "Forgetting things like this doesn't solve anything," she said just above a whisper.

"If you want to survive in the world of ninja, I think it's best if you do, un," Deidara said in his nonchalant tone. He sighed as he walked towards the front door to leave the bar. He glanced over his shoulder. "You coming or what?"

"Coming where?"

"To Nagashiro. I changed my mind…I also want to show you how much better my art is then Sasori-danna's, un."

"Sasori-danna," Nayami repeated, a small smile appearing on her face. Maybe Deidara wasn't too bad after all. "But what about the bar? Wouldn't Kizumi get angry?"

"Nah, we cleaned up most of it anyway," Deidara shrugged their assigned chore off and walked out the door. Nayami followed him.

"Shouldn't you say 'goodbye' or something?"

"I don't see why I need to. Besides, he's used to me just coming and going as I need to, un."

"What if that's the last time you'll see him again? Wouldn't you regret not saying 'goodbye'?"

"Nope, I know I'll see him again. He isn't going anywhere soon and neither am I."

Nayami sighed and looked at some of the stores they were now passing by. "That's not what I meant," She mumbled.

"What was that, un?"

"Nothing!" Nayami smiled back at him and began humming to herself.

"You better not be planning to hum the whole way there, un."

"Uh…nooooo…besides that get actually gets tiresome after awhile."

"Good, because if you had kept that up, I would have pushed you off the bird."

"What bird?" Nayami asked, slightly tilting one head to the side. Deidara grinned and stuck his hand into a pouch to grab some clay. Opening his hand, he revealed a small bird. "Awww! How cute!" Nayami cooed over the new creation.

"That's not all, un." He tossed it on the ground and after two hand signs a puff of cloud appeared. Once the cloud dispersed, a large version of the clay bird appeared.

"WOAH! It's huge!"

Resisting the urge to say 'That's what she said', Deidara smirked at Nayami's adoration. "Isn't it amazing? Hurry up and climb on it."

"It can fly!" She asked amazement still in her voice.

"Yeah, un." Deidara got on top of the bird. "C'mon so we can go already."

Nayami grinned up at him, before climbing on behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Yo! Just posting a rather short chapter to remind you all that I'm still alive! I've been rather busy and I've become rather...obsessed with YuGiOh again, ha ha.**

**Anyways, the end of the tunnel is coming closer! Thanks for everyone sticking with the story!**

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**Chapter 10: Mother**

"_A red string tying hearts together, never to be separated. A future that lasts forever, preserved by eternal love. Separation is an illusion. Don't doubt the feelings of your heart. I've always been by your side, and it wasn't until now that you finally see, the heart I've given to you…"_

"Will you shut up, un?" Deidara groaned as he and Nayami were walking along the path.

"I'm bored and besides if we were on your bird I probably wouldn't be as bored."

"I can't use the bird all the time! I only have so much chakra! Besides, you were singing all day yesterday while you were on the bird as well!"

"Really?"

"Yes and I told you to 'shut up' multiple times too, un!"

"Nah…I don't remember that." Nayami laughed as Deidara groaned.

"Why did I let you come with me?"

"Because you love me!" Nayami said happily skipping off ahead of him.

"I do not!"

"Do too!" Nayami turned around to shout back at him.

"Do not." Deidara rolled his eyes only to be glomped onto by Nayami. "Do too."

"Get off." He glared at her and she, to his surprise, obeyed. "Do too," she whispered before running off and he ran after her.

"Will you stop running! We're going to get separated if you do, un!"

"Why would you care you don't want to travel with me anymore, right?" She asked looking back at him while she ran.

"I never said that!"

"You were thinking it!"

"So what! I'm not thinking it now, un!"

"If you want me to stop, you'll have to catch me first!" Nayami laughed, now going a little faster.

"Nayami! Watch out for the…"

BAM! Nayami ran right into a tree. She found herself with her back on the ground, seeing stars. Her head was throbbing. Deidara stopped and knelt beside her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Putting her hand to her head, amazed at how familiar this situation seemed to her. She got up to her feet a bit unbalanced. "I'm still gonna beat you."

"Beat me at what?" Deidara wondered aloud. Nayami tried moving forward, only to fall again. Luckily Deidara was there to catch her. She looked up at him with her blue eyes; an unwanted blush rose upon her cheeks. "Great now you're turning red too, un." He murmured, oblivious to the actual reason why she was blushing. "Just sit down for a minute. I'll make a bird so we can fly for a bit."

"But your chakra."

"I was lying. I thought that by making you walk you would eventually run out of energy to sing."

"Jerk." She insulted him under her breath.

"I heard that, un." There was a poof and the familiar giant clay bird was before them again. Before Nayami could protest, Deidara had swept her off the ground. "Deidara!"

"What? It's not like you can stand on your own, un." She looked away from him a bit embarrassed. "What's wrong with you?" He asked. "You're really red. Are you hot or something?"

"No…"

"Women are so strange, un."

"That's funny. I thought you'd understand since you're one as well," Nayami snickered as Deidara set her down on the bird.

"Hey, I got you on this bird; I can kick you off just as easily, un." He glared, but Nayami only laughed. Her smile was contagious and Deidara faced ahead to hide a small smile he couldn't hide. He couldn't understand it. He had only spent a couple of days with the girl and yet….

"Come on Deidara! Let's get going already!"

"Hey, don't go ordering me around."

"Please?" she added. He sighed and took off. Immediately following take off, Nayami latched onto Deidara arm.

"Will you get off me, un?" Deidara asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm still not used to flying yet." She said, clinging onto his arm tighter, her soft breasts pressing against his arm. Deidara was now finding it a bit difficult to concentrate and the bird shook a little. "Deidara!" Nayami shrieked, holding onto him even tighter. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," He muttered, looking away.

"Is something wrong?" She asked looking up at him. Before he could answer, Nayami began to laugh gleefully. "You're blushing Deidara; you're cheeks are turning pink."

"That's only because of the sun! It's rather hot today you know, un!"

"That has to be the lamest excuse I ever heard."

"Oh yeah, well why were you red a few minutes ago?"

"Well…" Nayami started, looking around as if looking for a good reason. "…that's because it's so hot today."

"That basically the same thing I said, un!"

"No it's not. The heat and the sun have absolutely nothing to do with each other."

"You're not making any sense, besides I did say it was hot today!"

Nayami stuck her tongue out in response and Deidara rolled his eyes. The two fell into a slightly awkward silence. "Deidara…"

"Hm?"

"Did Saso-nii read my letter?"

"What letter, un?"

"Never mind," Nayami sighed. She released Deidara arm and focused her attention elsewhere. They were quiet again.

"So…does that Orochimaru guy know you're going to Nagashiro?"

"No…" Nayami answered Deidara, still looking away. "I ran away." She added non-caringly.

"Is that so? I'm surprised you weren't caught," Deidara commented, he too was rather nonchalant.

"He did catch me."

"What did he do to you, un?"

"He threw me in a dungeon," Nayami said calmly, as if she was talking about the weather.

"That sucks."

Nayami stress dropped. "Is that really all you have to say?"

"What else could I say, un?"

"Dunno." Nayami shrugged. "So how are the other Akatsuki members? How's Old Man Kakuzu? He was rather grumpy the last time I saw him…"

"He's still as moody as ever, especially when it comes to money."

"Who's his partner now?" She asked, knowing that his partners never seemed to last very long.

"Now? Some crazy religious dude name Hidan, un."

"How's Zetsu doing?"

"You're actually friends with that guy?"

"Yeah…he was the person I got along with the most. I usually spent most of my time with him…unless he was feeling hungry, then I'd stay as far away as possible!" Nayami laughed, but Deidara didn't really find it funny. "I'd like to see them again."

Deidara peered over at Nayami, who was now holding her knees up against her chest. "You can come back with me if you want," Deidara found himself saying before he could stop himself. "I'm sure Leader wouldn't mind too much since you were part of it before…"

She smiled sincerely up at him. "I don't think I'm cut out for it."

"I don't see why not. You lived alongside the Akatsuki when you were a kid right?"

"Yeah, but I had Da…Orochimaru looking out for me back then."

"I'll watch out for ya then, un."

She laughed. "You know, you're a very nice person."

A foreign feeling grew inside Deidara, forcing him to look away from her. "You're talking to a S-ranked criminal, un."

"Yep, I know." She laughed. "I guess I should say that you're a nice person to me."

"You keep talking like that and I won't be so nice."

"Awww, I think you're embarrassed! Awww!" She cooed over him and Deidara growled in discontent.

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"Why are you following me, un?"

"Well, I was thinkin' maybe you can help me after we do whatever it is what you need to do."

"I already told you I don't want you following me like some lost puppy."

"Yeah, but if I decide to go to the Akatsuki with you, then how would I be able to find you if we split up?"

"Just be quiet and don't say a word, un." Nayami nodded eagerly and followed Deidara as he climbed up…a tree.

"I know you told me to be quiet," Nayami whispered. "But what are we doing in a tree?"

"Shhh…" Nayami looked into the window of the house the tree stood beside. Inside was woman with grey hair, but Nayami could tell that it was once golden blonde years ago. She simply sat there, painting.

"Deidara, who is that?"

"My mother."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yo! Another Chapter here for you! This chapter is a little face paced in my opinion, but oh well. Of course I gotta shout out Thanks! for the people reading/reviewing this story. It definitely means a lot! I got my SAT Subject Scores back and I pleased to say that they're decent! **

**This story will probably have 2-3 more chapters before it's completed. Remember to Review!**

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Chapter 11: Family…

"Your…"

"Mother, yes."

"Oh…" Nayami and Deidara sat in the tree watching his mother paint. "…this is kind of creepy. Why are we watching your mother paint while we sit in a tree?"

"Shut up!" Deidara stood up from where he sat and sighed. "Let's go. I've done what I needed to do, un."

"Do what? Stare at your mother through a window?"

"I was just checking up on her alright? Now let's go, un." Deidara pulled on her wrist to lead her away, but Nayami broke free and sprinted to the front door. "Nayami, don't!" He shouted, but it was too late; she was already knocking on the door. He glanced at the window and saw that his mother was no longer sitting in front of her easel. Crap. Deidara jumped down from the tree and tackled Nayami to the ground. At that exact moment, the door opened.

The old woman appeared and looked down at them questionably. "What on earth are you two doing down there?"

Both Deidara and Nayami shuffled up to their feet. Deidara kept his head down, while Nayami introduced herself. "My name's Nayami mam!"

"Nice to meet you Nayami," the woman greeted her kindly. "You can call me Hana."

"Hana!" Nayami's eyes grew wide at the new information given. "Are you….are you originally from Konoha by any chance?"

Hana blinked. "Yes, I am. How did you…?"

"Do you have a daughter by any chance?" Nayami felt like she was on the edge of her seat that she wasn't sitting in.

"No…only a son." Hana answered Nayami's question with a quizzical look, but soon grinned. "You look a lot like him by the way. Just by appearance alone you could have passed for his sister."

"Oh…" Nayami's heart dropped; she was now back to square one.

Deidara, sensing Nayami's drop in positivity, decided now was the chance to leave. He began to pull Nayami away, but Hana spoke again. "And what's your name young man?"

Nayami snapped out of her trance. "You can tell that he's really a man!"

"Of course."

"Nayami…" Deidara growled, still tugging on her arm.

"His name is Deidara!" Nayami shouted happily. Everything seemed to freeze. Deidara dared not look at his mother. "Dei…Deidara?"

Hana walked out to him and took his hand off Nayami's wrist, holding it in her own. "Baby, look at me…please?"

Deidara glanced back at her. "Yo." he greeted his mother with one word.

Tears began to develop in Hana's eyes, but a smile was still on her slightly wrinkled face. "Welcome home."

"I'm home." Hana lead Deidara back in the house and Nayami followed, a sad smile on her face. She may not have found her mother, but at least Deidara can see his again.

The inside of the house was of a traditional style. Nayami and Deidara were sure to remove their sandals before entering as they stepped onto the tatami matting. They followed Hana further inside into the sitting room, where she motioned for them to sit at the table. "I'll go get us some tea." She announced and left to the kitchen.

Deidara let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. "Damn it Nayami."

"What? I did nothing wrong," she said, her voice hardly above a whisper.

"I didn't want to meet her again."

"How can you be so ungrateful? At least you have a mother."

"I'm sorry," Deidara apologized. "You just don't understand, un." He rubbed his temples. "When I was a kid, shinobi from Iwagakure came to town; recruiting and I wanted to join. I told mother this, but she didn't think it was a good idea. So I…"

"You ran away, didn't you?"

Deidara nodded his facial expression stony and grim. "Yeah, I left her behind…"

"But you came back," Hana's voice interrupted Nayami's and Deidara's conversation.

"Mother…" Deidara stood up and realized how much taller he was than her now.

"That's all that matters to me Deidara." She set the tea down onto the table. "You came back, safe and sound." She places a hand on his cheek. "That's what makes me happier more than anything." Deidara didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. All he could do was hold his mother in his arms. "Now now," Hana laughed. "You don't want to cry in front of your girlfriend do you?"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Both Nayami and Deidara shouted at the same time.

"Of course not," Hana said, not truly believing them. "Now sit down. Sit down." Deidara and Nayami settled down again.

"So…Hana-san. You have quite a lot of paintings hanging up." Nayami mentioned. This was a bit of an understatement. Paintings seemed to cover any available wall space; there were also many paintings on the floor, leaning against random objects for support. The subjects of these paintings varied, from landscape to portraits to still life. However, the main subject seemed to be that of two young people, a young man and woman who seemed to be in love.

"Yes. It's what I do for a living and to pass the time." Hana took a sip of her tea. "You know, art truly is amazing. It can transcend lifetimes and last forever."

Nayami blinked and looked at Deidara, who was looking away from her. Hana's view of art was very similar to Sasori's. "Anyways, what about you Nayami? How old are you?"

"Oh, um…I think I'm 15, maybe even 16!"

"Oooohhhhhh, Deidara, she's only three years younger than you are!"

"Mother!" Deidara snapped at her to shut her mouth. He hasn't seen her in years, and yet she was teasing him as though he hadn't left those many years ago.

"Deidara! You shouldn't talk to your mother like that!" Nayami now scolded him.

"I wasn't talking to her disrespectfully, un." Deidara defended herself, his mother laughed. "I quite like you Nayami. If he gets together with you, he may be able to learn a thing or two from you."

"Oh, uh…" Nayami found that she couldn't say anything because she became a bit flustered.

"Now, what business do you have here in Nagashiro?

"Ummm…I was looking for someone," Nayami answered, looking down at her cup.

"Did you find them?"

"Yes."

"Well, how did it go?"

"Not…not as well as I hoped…" It was at these words that Deidara came to realize that the person that Nayami was looking for, her missing relative, was his mother.

"Mother," Deidara interrupted. "I was wondering if Nayami and I could stay here for the night."

"Of course," Hana drew her attention away from Nayami and began walking up the stairs to the second floor. "Just follow me. You two can sleep in my art room. I'll have to move some easels and such out of the way first…"

"I'll come help you, un." Deidara too got up and left. Nayami silently thanked Deidara for leaving her alone to cope for a while and decide what she should do next.

Later that evening, as Deidara and Nayami rolled out there futons to sleep, Deidara brought up the topic that was avoided earlier that day. "The person you were looking for was my mother, right?"

"Yeah," She answered sitting down on top of her futon, facing him.

"How did you even find out about her?"

"Well, while I was in Konoha, an older woman on the street mistook me for your mother. So I thought that since she apparently looked like me…it was my only lead"

"You place too much hope in flimsy leads like that, un."

"I think it's better to have hope than to have none at all." They fell into a momentary silence.

"Why is it so important to find your family anyways?" He laid down on his futon, arms behind his head. "Waste of time if you ask me, un."

"Because…I…" Nayami couldn't answer. Why was it so important to find her family? What force drove her away from all things she was familiar with to the outside world for people she never even met? "Because I wanted to find someone, who care about me."

"Just because you may be blood related to someone doesn't really mean that they care for you. Hell, they might not give a damn about you."

"Don't say stuff like that Deidara. It's not making me feel any better." She threw a pillow in his face, only to have it thrown right back. Deidara sat back up, an angry look upon his face. "It's just the truth. Besides, sometimes the people that care about you are right in front of you, un."

Nayami stared at him, her blue eyes slightly wider than normal. "Do you mean you?"

Deidara's face now resembled the color of a tomato. "No I don't mean me! Now shut up and go to sleep!" He laid back down, but this time his back was facing to her.

"Deidara, you're mom is very nice. I really like her."

"Ah."

"Why did you decide to visit her even though you haven't seen her in a long time?"

"Aren't you tired? Why can't you just sleep, un?" He rolled over to face her.

"I was just wondering, jeez…" Her eyes slightly narrowing. "Why can't you tell me?" She now pouted. "Now you know why I came to Nagashiro, why can't I know why you came here?"

"Lay down, shut up, and I'll tell you." Nayami obeyed immediately and lied right next to him. He could feel her breath against his lips. "You're too damn close, un."

"It can't be helped; there's a lot of canvas and art stuff in this room, besides I want to hear everything clearly."

Deidara sighed and moved a little bit away from her before talking. "Okay…the reason I came here was to see if my mother was doing alright."

"I already know that," Nayami said bluntly.

"Then why are you asking!" Deidara said, his voice rising and Nayami shushed him.

"There must be a reason for why you **decided** to check on her now."

Nayami noticed Deidara shift a bit uncomfortably. "Sasori," He said. "When Sasori-danna died I…decided that I should check up on my mother."

"Sasori…you know, now that I think about it, your mom kind of reminds me of him. Their view of art…"

"…is practically the same. I know. Now sleep, un." She ignored his request. Her stare was beginning to unnerve him. It was like she was trying to see past his outward façade. "Close your eyes." Nayami blinked, broken from her momentary trance. Her eyelids now had a new found heaviness to them and her blue eyes finally closed. Deidara watched her breathing slowly, in and out; her skin looked so smooth beneath the small light that came through a small crack in the closed curtains. Deidara wanted to resist it, but the urge to touch her smooth skin was too great. Before he knew it his finger was now slightly grazing her cheek.

"Deidara," Her voice startled him and he drew his hand back at a ridiculous speed.

His face was red from embarrassment due to the fact that she could probably feel him touching her. "I thought you were asleep!" He whispered at her harshly.

She gave him a sleepy quizzical look. "There's no way I'd be able to fall asleep so quickly." He began to roll over onto his other side, but she stopped him. "Don't turn away from," she somewhat pleaded.

"Holy Jashin," he sighed, but complied.

When Nayami next opened her eyes, she was surrounded by something warm. She looked up to see Deidara's sleeping face; she couldn't help but think of another person. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she decided to get up. Careful not to wake Deidara, she escaped his embrace and exited the room. She shivered as she walked down the stairs, following the smell of something cooking. In the kitchen stood Hana, her hair pulled back. She was wearing a light pink yukata. The older woman turned her gray-blond head to see Nayami walk into the room and welcomed her with a warm smile. Nayami felt a necessity to smile back. "Good morning Hana-san."

"Good morning Nayami. Is Deidara still sleeping then?" Hana asked, noticing that her son had not come down with Nayami.

"Yeah…"

"I had a feeling he wasn't much of a morning person. It's already seven."

Nayami sweat dropped. "That's still pretty early."

Hana chuckled. "I guess so. Why don't you set the table for breakfast? The plates are in the top cupboard over there."

The younger blond nodded and grabbed the plates. Hana continued to flip the pancakes. "I heard you and Deidara talking last night." Nayami gulped. "I didn't hear the conversation word for word of course. I'm just wondering what you were talking about."

"Oh…ummm…you see, we were talking about…that person I was looking for." Nayami was now sitting down at the table, twiddling her thumbs.

"Oh?" Hana placed the pancakes onto a plate and turned off the stove.

"Yeah…"

Hana walked across the room to the table and sat across from Nayami. "That person wouldn't be me now would it?"

Nayami's head snapped up shocked that the old woman was able to guess so easily. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. I was guessing."

Nayami's face was now turning red from embarrassment. "You think I'm silly don't you? Thinking that you were my mother..."

"No, not really, just wrong in thinking it was me." Hana looked at Nayami's sad expression. "Don't worry. Wherever your mother is right now, I'm sure she loves you and thinks of you."

"What if she doesn't?" Nayami asked, remembering Deidara's words from last night. "What if she never cared and just gave me up simply because she didn't want me?" She rubbed her eye to keep tears from falling. Hana took Nayami's hand in hers. "Pessimistic thoughts do nothing good for the soul. Keep your chin up dear. I can tell by your eyes that you've been searching and what you've been really searching for."

"What have I been really searching for?" Nayami asked rather confused.

"Someone who truly cares for you. You'll find them, so don't worry, okay?" She smiled at the girl, who smiled back. "Okay." Nayami nodded, feeling much better.

"NAYAMI!" A shout from upstairs caused both women to jump in their seats. Deidara stormed down the stairs and into the kitchen. "NAYA-mi." He looked at the kitchen table to see Nayami sitting there perfectly fine.

"Thank Jashin," He sighed in relief and sat at the table.

"What on earth were you yelling for Deidara?"

"I had a dream and in it Nayami…Nayami was…I'd rather not talk about my dreams, un."

"Well, my question is why were you even dreaming about me in the first place?" Nayami asked, a sly grin on her face.

"Shut up! I wasn't dreaming about you!"

"You liar; you just said you were!" Nayami pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Oh how adorable! My Deidara must have had a dream where Nayami was hurt or taken captive; he couldn't bear to see her in trouble and shouted for her name, waking up to realize that she was no longer there! So he valiantly raced down the stairs to rescue is darling princess!" Hana concluded rather dramatically. Her conclusion caused Nayami to laugh.

"It…was…not…like…that, un!" Deidara shouted before stuffing his mouth with pancake.

"Oh come now, no need to get all embarrassed…" Nayami thought her cheeks were about to fall off with all the smiling she was doing. She felt so happy, eating breakfast with Deidara and Hana. She felt like she was part of a family.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: -_- Man I was going to post a chapter yesterday, but I just wasn't...feeling it, if that makes any sense at all. Instead I was writing a chapter for a KakashixOC story I want to start soon.**

**This chapter is kind of short and kind of rushed; I'll try my best to make the next one longer. I think Sasuke won't make his long awaited appearance until Chapter 14. Thanks for everyone who's still reading this story and bearing with me. I'm hoping to complete this during Thanksgiving week.**

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Chapter 12: Parting of Ways

"No fair Deidara! C'mon! Give it to me!" Nayami jumped up and down trying to grab the apple from Deidara's hand.

Deidara laughed evilly. "Jump for it, un!"

"Deidara! Will give Nayami-chan her apple?" Hana scolded him as the three of them walked through Nagashiro's marketplace. The residents of the town looked at the three strangely. For one they had never seen Deidara and Nayami before. They looked so similar that many mistook them as brother and sister. Both these new strangers not only resembled each other, but they also looked a lot like Hana. Second none of the town's citizens has ever seen Hana so…happy. She wore a smile so unfamiliar to the rest of the people in Nagashiro. Who exactly were these two new strangers following Hana?

Nayami walked happily along Deidara and Hana, ignorant to the stares of random passerbys. "Woah! Look at those pretty kimonos!" She shouted gleefully and ran off to the stand, leaving Deidara and Hana to talk amongst themselves.

"So Deidara-kun, how long will you be staying here in Nagashiro before you take off again?" His mother asked.

"Huh?"

She smiled at him sadly. "I know you probably have somewhere else you need to be."

Deidara looked away from her guiltily. "Mah…you're right. I was…planning on leaving tomorrow morning, un."

"Is Nayami-chan going with you?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know. I told her she could come, but…"

"She seems to like you…"

"I know, but…"

Hana smirked. "Well aren't you Mr. Confident?""

"I'm being serious here!" Deidara shouted cheeks slightly red from embarrassment. "The issue isn't really if she likes me enough or not; it's where I'm leaving to that I'm worried about. I told her that she could come back with me, but now that I think more about it…"

His mother sighed. "You weren't going to just leave Nayami here behind were you?" Deidara looked down ashamed. "Deidara…leaving without saying goodbye…that would probably break her heart."

"Yeah, but that way she wouldn't be able to follow me. The place I have to go back to…I don't think it's best for her. She's…just a kid, un."

She laughed at this. "You're not much older than her Deidara-kun."

"I've seen more of this world than she has, un." He pouted, folding his arms. "Oi, can you take care of her?"

"Eh!"

"If you take care of her, she'll be fine!"

"Things don't always work out the way you want them to, Deidara."

"Hana-san! Deidara! Come look at the fish on sale!" Nayami shouted back at them, jumping up and down. "We should definitely get some!"

"Hai, hai, we'll come take a look!" Hana replied to Nayami and began to make her way over to her. "Ne, Deidara-kun, I think it'd be best for you to tell Nayami your plans instead of leaving her in the dark, alright?" Deidara nodded and followed his mother in deep thought.

"Look at this squid! Doesn't it look delish?"

"Delish?" Deidara scoffed, when he heard Nayami describe the squid.

"Yeah, it just looks positively scrumdiliumpcoius."

"Oh dear…" A woman with three children cried in distress attracting Nayami's attention. She was trying to catch her children, who were playing around, while holding onto all the bags she was carrying.

"Come Deidara! There's a damsel in distress."

"Wait Nayami, it's none of our…" Deidara tried to stop her, but she was already off chasing after the children. "I thought you were going to help the lady carry her bags." Deidara deadpanned, before going to help her.

"ROAR!" Nayami swopped up two of the children, one under one arm and the other child in the other arm. "Ha ha ha, no child can escape me," she laughed, if not evilly, triumphantly.

The third child ran right into Deidara as he ran away from Nayami. Unlike Nayami, Deidara tried reasoning with the kid. "Oi kid, don't make me carry you back to your mother. Why don't you be a good boy and…OOF!" The kid socked him in the gut and ran off to his mother. "Damn…kid…"

"Deidara! Don't use such language around these children!" Nayami chided him, but Deidara didn't really care. The little devil….

"Thank so much." The mother thanked Nayami. "But it really wasn't necessary."

Nayami set the two children she was carrying down. "It was no problem. We can help you carry your bags home if you want!" Nayami offered, including Deidara.

"Wait a minute, Nayami…" Deidara tried to protest, but the mother had already given her some of the bags. "C'mon Deidara! Be a man and carry some of these bags. Hana, we'll meet you back at the house."

He groaned, but complied. "You two are such fine people," the mother praised them. "I have never seen you around here before though. Are you two brother and sister?" She asked them, noting their similar physical appearances.

"Nope!" Nayami shook her head. "We're just friends."

Deidara could feel his stomach flip over and suddenly he felt a bit queasy. Why did he have to offer Nayami a ride to Nagashiro? If he hadn't he wouldn't be in this situation.

The moon was high in the sky when Nayami sat up in her futon late that night. She had heard something moving outside of the door and thought it was probably part of her imagination. She was about to return to sleep, but noticed that Deidara wasn't sleeping beside her. In fact his futon wasn't beside her at all. It was gone. Curious to where Deidara had gone, Nayami stood up and began walking down the stairs into the sitting room, thinking that he'd be there; he wasn't.

"Shit!" Nayami heard someone shout from the kitchen. It was none other Deidara.

"Deidara…" Nayami whispered his name.

He practically jumped a mile high and spun around. "Nayami! What are you doing up? It's late, un." He harshly whispered back at her.

"Well, what are you doing up?" She notices the bag in his hand. "Are you going somewhere?"

Deidara didn't say anything; no, he felt like he couldn't say anything. He felt like a child who was just caught in the act of taking a cookie from a cookie jar, except this situation was much worse. "Nayami…I…"

"You're leaving, aren't you?" She asked bluntly, deciding cut to the chase.

"Well…yeah…"

"Didn't you tell me that I could come with you?"

"Yeah…but…"

"Were really just going to leave without saying goodbye?" She asked, her voice level slightly rising.

Deidara motioned her to quiet down. "C'mon Nayami. There's no way you'd be able to survive with the Akatsuki."

"That's not what you said before."

"Gah…." Deidara tried to think of another reason. "It's just…it's dangerous and stuff…"

Nayami blinked and then grinned. "You're worried for me? Aren't you?"

He looked away, a very light blush on his cheeks. "Don't say such embarrassing things, un."

"It's okay. I understand."

Deidara raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Nope!" She said, smiling.

"Don't joke around."

She tried to conceal her smile, but still had a sheepish grin. "I'm serious."

Deidara grinned back as he swung his bag over his shoulder. "Just stay here. You'll be safe here and my mother can keep you company. Okay, un? I'm sorry if it feels like I'm forcing you; I just think…that it's best…" He trailed off, feeling a bit awkward.

"It's okay." She said softly. "I actually kind of like being here. I like having this…normal life."

"Good." He exited the kitchen and Nayami followed him to the front door. "I thought you were staying here." He frowned at her.

"I know. I am. I'm just waiting."

"For what."

"For you to say 'Goodbye', duh." She said as though it was obvious. "I mean, what if I never see you again?"

"Of course you're going to see me again, un."

"But what if you get killed or blown up by your own bombs or something?"

"First of all, there's no way I'd blow myself with my own bombs, second of all, I'm an S-rank criminal. Nobody's going to take me down that easily. So don't worry about it…" He stopped talking when Nayami hugged him. "I'll miss you Deidara."

"You barely even know me." He tried his best to bury his embarrassment. "If anything happens here, come find me alright?" He patted her on the head awkwardly, not really sure of what else to do.

"Alright." Nayami released him from her hug.

He went outside; Nayami followed and watched as he made his giant bird. It wasn't until he got on it that he noticed that Nayami was still there. "I hope you don't start chasing after my bird once I take off, un."

"I just wanted to see you leave."

"Right…" Deidara looked up at the night sky and back down at Nayami. "Goodbye, Nayami." And with that he took off into the night, leaving Nayami behind. A horrible feeling struck her heart and yet she did not cry. The feeling seemed to spread throughout her body like poison and it felt like something was missing. She wondered if this is what it felt like to have someone leave you. Was this how Sasuke felt when she left him behind with Orochimaru? She decided not to think about it.

"Nayami…" Hana's voice drew Nayami's attention back to the front door. "Come inside."

"He's gone Hana."

"Yes, but I'm sure he'll come back soon." Hana reassured her. "Come now." With one last look behind her, she entered the house.

That was the last time she saw Deidara.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Very short chapter I know. Just letting everyone know I'm alive.

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Chapter 13: On the Road Again

It had been about three months since Deidara had left, but Nayami fared well. She was able to get along with the other people living in Nagashiro quite well and had made some new friends. She even got a job at a local family owned restaurant to pay a part of the bills; Nayami didn't want to be a burden to Hana after all. Hana was a kind woman of 49 years. She could make a joke out of anything and she always seemed to be smiling. Even so, Nayami felt like something was missing from her new life.

Every morning she woke up at 8 and ate breakfast Hana made for her. She'd then leave for work at a family restaurant and worked until 2. The restaurant's owner's daughter would then come in from school with her friends. Nayami would join them in their conversations; sometimes they would hang out together at the shopping center. The things the girls happened to be as old as Nayami, but sometimes Nayami had no idea what they were talking about. Somehow they were always able to get back to the subject on how boring Nagashiro was and how they'd travel the world once they graduate. It was a nice dream.

After hanging out with the girls, she would return home at around 4 and try to paint with Hana. Nayami truly thought that Sasori must have been turning in his grave with the works of "art" she has been creating. Around 6 they would eat dinner and then Nayami would sit outside, staring up at the sky, until it was time for bed. Day after day, week after week, it felt like her life was going by like molasses.

"Nayami, it seems that there is something troubling you." Hana commented as she sipped her cup of green tea.

"Nothing is wrong, Hana-san." Nayami assured her, tears forming in her eyes because she had just burnt her tongue as she took a sip from her own cup of green tea.

"No, there is something wrong. How do you like living here so far? Tell me, what do you think of the life of a civilian?"

Nayami looked up at this. "How do you know that?"

"How else could you have met my son if you weren't a ninja?" Nayami had no response to this and Hana smiled into her cup. "So, do you think you want to continue this peaceful sort of life?"

"I…I'm not sure. This lifestyle…is definitely not one I'm used to, but I don't want to return to my old life either."

"And why's that?"

"I've seen many people die, including people I knew, people I held dear to me."

"God gave you a gift Nayami and let me tell you, it isn't your painting skills that is for sure. Everything you've been through, you should learn from and you should use the skills you have and protect the people you care about before it's too late." Hana downed the last of her tea. "Now, I have enjoyed your company, but I do think it's time for you to leave. Don't you?"

"But where will I go? I can't go back; I'm afraid…"

"Face your past or you won't be able to live in the present in peace. Promise me you keep an eye out for Deidara, will you?"

"Alright." Nayami agreed, taking the woman's words to heart.

Next thing Nayami knew she was in Tanorima again, trying to get a free ride into Fire country. She was too tired to walk the rest of the way there and getting a ride would be faster anyway, then she saw him, the merchant who gave her a ride before. "Hey! Hey mister!"

The brown haired man looked away from his horse. "Well if it isn't our little traveler. Did you find that person you were looking for in Nagashiro?" he asked kindly.

"Oh…" Nayami was a bit surprised that he even remembered that. "No, I didn't find her."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Actually, I'm going…home." The word "home" felt strange on her tongue.

"I thought you didn't have one."

"Yeah…well, I need to go back and return to my old life. I've decided that was the life best suited for me."

"I see. Well where are you headed? I could probably give you a lift."

"Fire country."

The man laughed. "Well you're definitely a lucky girl. I'm going that way to, have to get some merchandise to Konoha. Just hop in the back."

"Really? Thanks!" Nayami climbed into the back of his wagon. A whip cracked, a horse neighed and they began to set off to Fire country.

"You're a runaway, aren't you? What are your folks going to say when you come waltzing up to the front door?"

Nayami crossed her arms behind her head and laid back, closing her eyes. "I don't know. I'll be in big trouble though." Big trouble was a bit of an understatement. Nayami didn't even want to imagine the punishment Orochimaru probably had in store for her. "I don't even know if I will go back. I might chicken out or something…"

"Then why go back? Is it your ninja boyfriend?" She could hear a smile in the merchant's words and couldn't stop the blush from rising to her cheeks.

"Yeah," She said softly.

"Hope he won't be angry with you for being away for so long."

"Don't make me feel worse than I already do," Nayami groaned.

"Well, here's something that might cheer you up, seeing that you're kinda a kunochi and all. Surely you know of Orochimaru, right? He was one of the Legendary Sannin that left Konoha. An S-rank criminal he became…"

"What about him?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"He's dead."

Nayami's eyes grew big at the man's words. "Dead? Wh-How?"

"I know, shocking right? But you'll never guess this. The person that did him in was none other than Uchiha Sasuke, the kid that was the sole survivor of that one massacre."

"He…what? Where did you hear this?"

The merchant shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. I travel to quite a few places and hear a few things. There is a chance that this is some made up rumor, but my guess is not."

"What makes you think that?"

"Many people are talking about it. Even every day civilians know about it, but I guess that's enough of that. Where's your final destination this time? I might be able to drop you off there."

"I-I'm not quite sure…" Nayami said, her voice trailing off as her mind went off into deep thought. Orochimaru was dead. She didn't know how to feel about this. She felt somewhat relieved, free even, but something made her feel sad that he was gone. Her old life, she could never return to it now, not with Orochimaru dead. And Sasuke, where was he going to go now? Probably to his brother…Nayami groaned to herself. It'd be a miracle if she ever ran into him again; she was never very good at tracking people.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Another short chapter. Sorry if it sucks. I'll try posting another chapter as soon as I can. I've just been super busy and stuff.

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Chapter 14: Change

The blond girl laid back in the slightly damp grass, hands behind her head. The sun was beginning to rise into the sky; it was hidden behind many clouds. The clouds were a hazy sort of white and a breeze, from the near-by sea, blew, causing a few leaves from nearby trees to come falling down. Her chest slowly rose up and down as she looked up into the sky with half-lidded eyes.

"Nayami, stop lazing around and help me load these packages."

"Mah….Yasuhiro-san! We've been loading up your cart since this morning. Aren't we done yet?" Nayami whined, rolling around in the grass like a child.

"Actually, **I've** been loading the cart since this morning…" The merchant, whose name Nayami had finally learned, corrected her, carrying one of the packages to his cart. "If I'm correct, you've been eating the merchandise."

"It was only one loaf of bread…" Nayami pouted, finally standing up and walking over to the horse, Miruko. She began to pet its mane. "You know what it's like right? To be so overworked…"

"Nayami…"

"Yeah yeah," she carried the boxes back to the cart. "Where we headed to this time?"

"Wave country."

"Wave country?"

"Yep, haven't been there in a long time. This time instead of crossing by boat I can just get over the Great Naruto Bridge."

"Naruto?" Nayami asked wide eyed, wondering if it was named after the same Naruto she met in Konoha. It wasn't a very common name. "How strange!" Nayami laughed. Her laughter soon subsided. "Hey, Yasuhiro-san…is it really okay for me to come along with you?"

"Well, I see no reason why not. It's not like you're a criminal and have people chasing you…"

"But how can you trust me so easily!" Nayami yelled, but then quickly lowering her voice. "You don't even know me."

"No, but I can tell you have a good spirit. No matter what ya say, you're basically a lost kid. No idea where ya going…guess you'd have to become old like me to see things like that, huh?" He grinned at her, but it faltered for a moment when he saw the look on her face. "It's alright Nayami-san."

"No it's not. I have no idea where I'm going and I feel like I don't belong anywhere. I feel so lost!"

"Thought you said you're goin' back to your old life."

"My old life…is dead. I have nowhere to go..."

Yasuhiro set a comforting hand on her head. "Don't worry about it for now. We can talk about it after the delivery in Wave Country. Alright?"

Nayami nodded. "Alright…" Yet, she was still unsure.

"Get in the back Nayami, we have to start heading out if we want to make our shipment by this afternoon."

"Okay!" She hopped into the back and the cart began to move forward. She could no longer see the sun, from where she sat in the cart, for they were heading towards it. However she could see its light coming from behind her; it illuminated the far mountains in the distance. Nayami leaned against the inside of the cart, allowing her body to relax. Her worries gently began to drift away, like Yasuhiro suggested. She wondered what life would have been like if she hadn't run away, if she hadn't chased an imaginary ghost. Would she have stood by as Sasuke killed Orochimaru? Would she have followed him? Would she have followed Kabuto instead? Was Kabuto even alive? Would she even be happy? What was happiness? She wasn't sure if she knew anymore. For a short moment, she closed her eyes and tried to think of a time she was happy. Orochimaru, when she was with Orochimaru, she was happy. Sasori, with Sasori, she was happy. Being with Deidara, she was happy. Spending time with Sasuke…how long had she even known Sasuke? In reality she knew it wasn't a long time, but in her heart, it felt she knew him forever. It felt as though the time she spent with him was a long time ago.

She growled to herself and opened her eyes. Her thoughts weren't helping her mood at all. Her blue eyes glared at the scenery, when she saw something move. She suddenly sat up, very much alert. She looked behind her, through the small window in the wall separating her from Yasuhiro. He didn't seem to notice anything. Maybe it was just nerves…she turned back around and nearly pissed her pants when she saw a certain plant man sitting beside her.

She opened her mouth to say something, but when Zetsu put a finger to his mouth, signaling her silence, she closed it with a smile. Then, without warning, she surprised the man with a hug, burying her face into his chest. His scent, finally…it was something familiar to her.

He pushed her away. "**You must be in a depressing state, **if you would hug me of all people. **Pathetic child…"** His voice spoke, barely above a whisper to avoid being heard by Yasuhiro. She smiled weakly in response and whispered back. "What are you doing here?"

"Orders. I see now what has become of you. **I think Leader will be content.**" He answered. "**Orochimaru is dead."**

"I know."

"Why are you here instead of mourning by his side?"

"I was looking for…someone."

"I'm surprised. **You left him.**"

"I know..." Nayami suddenly felt guilt. Could she have protected Orochimaru? Could she have fought Sasuke? "I know I shouldn't have run off and…"

"What you did isn't a bad thing. **Although it was stupid." **Zetsu began to move.

"Don't go." She found herself saying. This was her chance for things to go back to normal, somehow… "Take me with you…"

"**Don't say such foolish things." **Zetsu cut her off. " **You know as well as I that Leader won't allow it.** This change is better for you anyways. Close your eyes."

"No. Don't leave…"

"Close your eyes…" He took his hand and covered her eyes; her eyelids automatically closed. When she opened them again, he was gone. Change, it was a scary concept, but it was inevitable. Her life has changed. She has changed. There was no point in wishing for things of the past. It was time for change.

* * *

"Nayami-san, that isn't such a good idea…" Yasuhiro frowned at Nayami who held a bunch of boxes stacked on top of each other.

"Yeah, but this way I don't have to come back to the cart twice! I'll be fine!"

"Right…I have one more pick up at jewelry store a few stores down. Just meet me there when you're done here." He started to go, but stopped. "And don't forget the money."

Nayami pouted. "I'm not that irresponsible. Like I'd forget to get paid…" She walked to the door of the restaurant she had to make the delivery to and bumped into a problem. How would she open the door?

"I'll get that for you!" Said a voice, and Nayami strained to look behind her to see a girl. She looked a bit younger than she did. She wore a purple bandana over black hair and had huge dark brown eyes.

"Thanks." She replied before walking in; the girl followed. "My name is Shiza! I work here! What's your name?"

"Nayami."

"And what do you do Nayami?" She asked energetically. For a moment, Nayami wondered if she was just as energetic, and annoying, as this girl was.

"I…uh….deliver stuff." Nayami answered, but Shiza was no longer listening.

"Oh my god! Look at that guy over! He looks so...so cool!" Nayami rolled her eyes and Shiza swooning. Shouldn't Shiza be working? Or she could at least offer to help Nayami carry the boxes to the back…

Nayami looked around, trying to find some other worker to help her, but couldn't help but notice that all the other people in the restaurant, mostly females, were staring at the same guy Shiza was staring at. Curiosity got the best of her and Nayami peered over to get a good look at the guy. The boxes fell to the floor.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Yeah, totally didn't mean to give ya'll a cliffhanger in the last chapter. My bad! I'm not really sure if this should be the last chapter or not, but I think I'm going to have another chapter before the story's complete...finally. Reviews would be lovely.**

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**Chapter 15: Buried Feelings**

"Oh my god! Look at that guy over! He looks so...so cool!" Nayami rolled her eyes and Shiza swooning. Shouldn't Shiza be working? Or she could at least offer to help Nayami carry the boxes to the back…

Nayami looked around, trying to find some other worker to help her, but couldn't help but notice that all the other people in the restaurant, mostly females, were staring at the same guy Shiza was staring at. Curiosity got the best of her and Nayami peered over to get a good look at the guy. The boxes fell to the floor.

"You dropped the boxes!" Shiza so kindly pointed out.

Nayami's cheeks turned red as she scrambled to get the boxes back together. "Here," A low voice spoke. Naymi gulped, recognizing the voice. She dared to look up to see coal half-lidded eyes.

"Sasuke," She whispered his name. Her trembling hands took the box from his hands.

"Nayami." He whispered back.

"Oi, Sasuke! You know the pretty blonde?" The person Sasuke was with caught Nayami's attention. He had white hair and purple eyes. The smile on this guy's face soon faded. "Wait…aren't you…"

"Suigetsu, we're leaving." Sasuke announced and quickly brushed past Nayami, but whispered so only she could hear. "Meet me at the town's entrance at sunset." Suigetsu followed, frowning at Nayami as he passed her.

"Wait, Sasuke!" She shouted. The feelings swirling through ranged from happiness to confusion.

He paused at the restaurant's door and glanced back at her, before walking away. He had not expected to see Nayami of all people in wave country.

Nayami stood motionless and it felt as though her spirit was sucked out from her. She suddenly wanted to shrink away; many eyes were now settled on her, the random girl who knew the handsome stranger. "Nayami! Just bring those boxes over this way!" Shiza's voice shook Nayami out from her trance.

She carried the boxes to the back. "Shiza, where's the manager? I need them to sign this form," She asked, trying to devoid her voice from all emotion.

Shiza, not much to Nayami's surprise, ignored her entirely. "You knew that guy! Wow! Do you think you could…?"

"Please Shiza! I really need to get going. Yasuhiro-san is probably waiting for me."

Shiza pouted. "Fine, fine. Just give it here," She said, referring to the forms. "I'll be back in a sec."Nayami let out a sighed and began fidgeting with her fingers. She just wanted to get out of this stupid place and think."Here, ya go!" Shiza announced her return with the forms and a small envelope, which no doubt had the payment.

"Thanks," Nayami took the papers from her, but Shiza wouldn't let go. "Uhh…"

"I hope whatever's going on between you and that Sasuke character works out. Keep ya chin up Naya-chan!" Shiza winked, before showing her out.

"Ah…Ahhh," was all Nayami could say. She was a bit shocked form Shiza's encouragement.

"There you are Nayami. I was wondering what took you so long."

Nayami looked ahead of her. "Yasuhiro!"

He gave her a small wave. "You don't look so well. You look as if you've seen a ghost or something." He laughed, but noticed her lack of. "Did something happen?" His voice now resembling that of a concerned parent.

"Nothing's wrong. I just ran into an…old friend of mine…" Nayami's tried to reassure him, but her voice just trailed off.

"Alright," Yasuhiro said, deciding to leave it at that. "Well, we're finished for today and made all our stops. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning back to Fire country. You can explore the town if you want to until then, as long as you get back to the hotel room by dark."

"I need to meet someone actually."

"Meet someone?"

"Yeah, at sunset." She added, wondering why she was even telling Yasuhiro this. It's not like she needed his permission anyway.

"This 'someone' doesn't happen to be that 'old friend' of yours, does it?" Nayami avoided eye contact with the older man.

"It's a boy, isn't it? Isn't it?" He asked teasingly, causing Nayami to immediately turn read. "Yeah! So what if it is!" She asked defensively.

Yasuhiro sighed. "It's your choice what you do. Just remember, I'm leaving tomorrow morning." He reminded here and with that led Miruko, the horse, and the cart down the street.

Maahhhh, Nayami groaned to herself. Now what was she suppose to do? There was still at least a few **hours** until sunset and she had nothing to do. So she went to the town entrance and sat alone, by herself until sunset.

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Sasuke walked towards the town entrance. "Oi, Sasuke, how long will this chat take?" Unfortunately, Suigetsu was coming too.

"I don't know."

"Hmph. How boring. I don't wanna listen to you talk with your little girlfriend," Suigetsu complained. "Wasn't she Orochimaru's daughter anyways? What the hell Is she doing here?"

"Who knows?"

"You know," Suigetsu started, an eye twitching. "You're ridiculously short answers are really starting to get on my nerves…"

Sasuke ignored him for now his attention was on the girl sitting on a rock, by the town entrance. She was much earlier than he expected her to be. Actually, he expected her to attack him from behind or something, instead of finding her sitting, gazing at the setting sun. She finally seemed to notice them approaching, since she stood up and looked behind her. Sasuke could see her chew on her lower lip. Now that he thought about, he had never seen her nervous before.

They now stood before each other, perhaps about an arm's length away, looking at each other. He had been a long time since he had seen her abnormal eyes and he didn't realize how long it really has been until now. Yet, he felt as though it was only a few days ago, since he and Nayami were lying down together stargazing. A lot has happened since then and Sasuke could tell that there was something different about her.

There was a momentary pause before Nayami smirked at him. "What's this? No kiss?"

"As if."

Her smirk soon fell away. "It's been a while, Sasuke."

"We have some things to talk about."

Suigetsu reminded the two of them of his presence by scoffing. "I'd be surprise if you'd even be able to even hold a minute conversation with this guy."

Both ignored him and began walking together back through town. Sasuke looked back at the white haired ninja. "Wait there until I get back." Suigetsu started shouting, but his shouts soon died off the further they got away.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke decided to take the initiative.

"I could ask you the same question," She said back to him, but sighed when he stayed silent. "Apparently, I'm delivery girl now."

"Delivery…?"

"…girl, yeah. Surprising, isn't it?" Nayami said smiling, knowing he wasn't expecting that. "Tomorrow, Yasuhiro, the guy that kinda hired me, and I are suppose to go back to the Fire Country."

"How did you even meet?"

"He gave me a ride to a town near Iwagakure a few months back. I was looking for…my brother there."

Silence feel on the two again. "Did you find him?"

She smiled sadly. "No. He probably…doesn't even exist. I don't have any more leads. I wonder, if the whole thing was a waste of my time."

"It wasn't. You escaped Orochimaru so it wasn't a complete waste," Sasuke said, trying to reassure, but immediately wishing he hadn't mentioned Orochimaru.

"Sometimes, I think I was better off with him and Kabuto…I know you killed him Sasuke. Did you get Kabuto too?"

"No."

She sighed. "You should have. Kabuto was very loyal to Orochimaru. You've just allowed an enemy of yours to walk free. It'll probably come back to bite you later." She paused for a moment. "So what are you doing here, Sasuke, with Suigetsu no less? If I remember him correctly, he was one of Orochimaru's prisoners."

"He needed to get a sword, before we moved on…"

"To…?"

"Gather other people for my team."

"So you're going to face Itachi now?"

His body involuntarily twitched at his brother's name. "Yes, and I'm forming a small team to get to him."

"Who else?"

"Juugo and Karin."

Her eyebrows rose. "Juugo? Good luck getting him out, you'll definitely need it." She laughed. "I can't imagine what your group would be like with someone like Karin on your team."

"Karin's ability is very useful," Sasuke informed her, feeling as though Nayami was insulting his choice of people.

"Calm down…Tiger." She laughed again when she saw the look on Sasuke's face. She stopped walking, and he did too. Her eyes were on the ground, and the smile on her face was now weak. "I can't stay out much longer. Yasuhiro didn't want me to. I guess you could say he was a bit worried about me."

"He sounds like a good person."

"He is."

"You shouldn't keep him waiting for too long."

She looked up with him with sad eyes. "I thought you'd say that." She grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to herself.

Sasuke put his arms around her and simply held her, a bit unsure of how to feel. He wasn't stupid. She was probably a thousand times better off living her life as a…delivery girl than him. He was rather glad that she had never formally affiliated herself with a hidden village, or else she'd be in danger as a missing-nin no matter what she did. "I don't want you to leave me," she whispered.

"You know I have to," he whispered back.

"Yeah."

Their noses brushed and Sasuke lowered his face so that his lips tentatively touched hers, as though he was unsure of his action. She smiled before kissing him more firmly back. When they separated, their breaths fogged up in the cool evening air. "I think I still love you, Sasuke."

"Hn," was his only response. It wasn't even a full word, but Nayami was content with it anyway. "We'll meet again soon, Nayami."

"I believe you," she pulled away from his embrace. "Don't forget."

"Never." At last he turned from her and walked back towards the town entrance to Suigetsu. Once again, he buried his feelings towards Nayami away. Hatred was the only thing he could feel, if he was to take out Uchiha Itachi.


End file.
